MMA Hot Stuff

UFC 106 Predictions

I sort of hate to make predictions before weigh-ins because I feel you can learn a lot from weigh-ins. Especially anytime Anthony Johnson or Thiago Alves are on the card? With weigh-ins only hours away I'm afraid if I don't get to this now, it'll never happen. For those loyal readers of mine, you know the winners are in Green.

Tito Ortiz vs Forrest Griffin: Okay so FINALLY Tito Ortiz is back in the octagon. But is it the same Tito that left the UFC nearly 18 months ago? A lot has happened during that time. There have been contract disputes, a back surgery, even babies born. In April 2006 Tito beat Forrest Griffin in what is still a talked about as a controversial split decision win. Forrest has beat and lost to some of the biggest names in the sport. While I think everyone is anxious to see a rematch I don't expect to see this go the same way as their last fight. As much as I keep going back and forth on who I think is going to win - I'm giving it to Tito. I think he has a lot to prove. He wants to show everyone he's back... And I'm giving it to him by way of Ground N Pound!

Josh Koscheck vs Anthony Johnson: This could be a great fight where we see a wrestler vs a striker with pretty long reach. Anthony is a very big welterweight and has been known to cut massive pounds (or try and in some cases has failed). The interesting tidbit with these two is Anthony is usually cornered by Josh Thompson who also trains out of the same gym as Koscheck (AKA). Will Josh Thompson corner Anthony? Again, as much as it pains me to say this, I'm giving this win to Anthony by way of TKO. I think those long arms are going to give him the extra reach and he'll use it. Oh and I will say I heart Josh. Any fighter that loves to fight as much and as often as he does is RAD in my book! Thanks Josh.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs Luis Cane: For those that don't know much about lil Nog, he's very much like his brother but smaller. He has a chin, can take a lickin' and keep on tickin. Both Nog and Cain are great with submissions and BJJ and because of that, I expect to see this one go to the judges. Given their total effed up ability to make consistent decisions, who really knows how this one will go. I just flipped a coin (not really) and I'm giving this win to Cane by overall points.

Phil Baroni vs Amir Sadollah: Oh vay. This isn't even main card worthy in my book. This could either go with Baroni coming out throwing hay makers, and landing one before he gasses out and winning my TKO. Or Amir is able to stay away from the haymakers and goes in to the second round where Amir gets him in some sort of submission. Out of sheer hope, I'm going to pick Amir by submission. I'd like to state for the record in addition to not thinking this is main card worthy, I also think this is a do or die fight for both of these fighters. I can't believe the UFC thinks Baroni is an interesting addition to the roster and frankly Amir has lost a few fights now and should be on his way out with another loss. Sure I know given his history of TUF the UFC will keep him around for a while..but I think he's a better UFC personality than fighter.

Paulo Thiago vs Jacob Volkmann: This fight has been moved up to the main card to replace Karo Parisyan vs Dustin Hazelett. I know next to nothing on Jacob and seeing how Paulo used his brut strength against Koscheck I'll pick him to win by submission. 

Karo Perisyan vs Dustin Hazelett: Given Karo's 'issues' Dustin wins by way of Karo forfeiting the fight. Oh and Karo also just forfeited his relationship with the UFC. oopsie. Although if you think about it we all win by not seeing this fight. Yay to Karo finally being out of the UFC. Oh and PS if he does have mental issues as Dana announced I hope he gets help. 

ESPN MMA Live

Here is this weeks installment of ESPN's MMA Live. Can I just say that I love this weekly show? Great job ESPN for putting this out there for the fans.

This week's show spends some time on the controversial topic of Kyle Maynard's MMA debut. You may Kyle as a congenital amputee that found success in wrestling and then went on to pursue his dream of fighting. His dream has been met with mixed reviews. Hear what Kenny and the crew think of Kyle's achievement and future in the sport. Also, Kyle joins the crew live to discuss his love for MMA and why he wants to fight. What does Kyle have to say to the naysayers out there? Find out!

Say what you will about Kyle's place in MMA, but you must admit he's got heart and courage and you have to admire his determination.

The crew discusses the addition of Anderson Silva VS Forrest Griffin to the UFC 101 card. And apparently Kenny read my post about fighting styles, because he agrees this will be an exciting one given Griffin's aggressiveness and Silva's counter-punching style.

We hear about updates to the June 6th Strikeforce card. Jeff Sherwood joins to discuss the Sherdog top 10 pound-for-pound fighter rankings.

And Kenny takes us to Cambridge Culinary School of Arts for some tips on "healthy living" through turkey chili. I'm a little disappointed that we didn't see Kenny and Keith demonstrate the "chicken wrist", but the chili recipe looks GOOD!

UFC 91: The Postmortem

UFC 91 was a great event, but in the end, I sat in my seat depressed and wishing I hadn't seen what I just saw. I literally sat there until the usher told me I had to leave. I wasn't the only depressed face in the crowd, there was a couple a few rows in front of me that looked like their puppy had just been kidnapped.

If you're a frequent reader, you'll know that I'm not a Brock Lesnar fan. In fact, here's the shirt I wore to weigh-ins. I just don't agree with someone getting a title shot against a legend after only 3 fights (2 in the UFC).

After all was said and done, Brock had beaten Randy with a straight right that caught Randy behind the ear and dropped him. Without all of his wits about him, Randy just couldn't get Brock off of him. The ref gave Randy as much possible time as he could to recover, but Brock was just too much size to deal with at that point.

The size difference between Randy and Brock was evident even from the upper level seats in the arena. Randy came in at 220, and Brock said he weighed about 275 at fight time. Round 1 saw Randy work his game plan of head movement, combinations in close, defending the double-leg and keeping Brock against the cage. Even when Brock got him down, Randy was able to move to half-guard and use that to get back to his feet. Round 2 saw more of the same, until a straight right caught Randy behind the ear and put him down. Randy was clearly using head movement to avoid strikes, but in this case just didn't get far enough out ofthe way. As he told Joe Rogan after the fight, "those are some big ham-hocks comin' at ya". 

What does this mean for the future of the heavyweight division? Given Brock's athletic ability, size and strength, it's hard to imagine anyone out-wrestling him. Some have the ability to out-strike the big man, but can they also defend the takedown well enough to keep the fight standing? Tough call. Even on the ground, what is the likelihood of catching a guy with a tree-trunk sized neck in a triangle? Not good. How about a rear-naked choke? You'd have to get his back first, and he's no slouch when it comes to grappling.

Ultimately, I think Brock's weakness will continue to be that which was exploited by Frank Mir, any type of submission on the legs or joints. Given that, I think the biggest threat to Brock's title remains to be Noguiera or Mir, but wouldn't be surprised if Gabriel Gonzaga could also give him a run for his money. Great on the ground and on his feet, Gonzaga is a young and strong fighter with great tenacity. Yes, he lost to Randy, but with the right game plan I could see Gonzaga posing a serious threat to Lesnar.

At the end of the day, Lesnar is an anomaly. He's clearly a very talented athlete with the ability to improve and become a good fighter. The sad part is, as a fan, I want to see a fight that is a war because the two fighters are evenly matched in skill, and it becomes a chess match. At this point the real challenge anyone faces with Lesnar is how to deal with his size and strength mixed with some athletic ability and skill. For the near future, you won't be hearing an opponent of Brock Lesnar saying they need a game plan to deal with his strikes, submission or grappling, but rather a game plan for dealing with his massive size and strength. That's too bad.

At his fairly young age, I don't think Brock will be going away any time soon, and there aren't a large pool of talented fighters that possess his same size and strength. So don't expect to see Brock tested solely on the merits of his skill level any time soon. I'll keep my fingers crossed that either Mir or Nogueira have the ability to test him, but it remains to be seen.

Kenny Florian VS Joe Stevenson

What can I say? Total domination by Kenny. I was VERY suprised to see Kenny get mount so quickly and to see Joe "Daddy" give up his back so quickly. I thought this would be a very technical back and forth battle on the mat, but hats off to Kenny. He came in and dominated... I hope he gets a crack at BJ Penn soon, he certainly deserves it.

Gabriel Gonzaga VS Josh Hendricks

WOW! Gonzaga is a BEAST! I love this guy... and I immediately found myself thinking that he has the right attributes to give Lesnar a run for his money. He dispatched of Hendricks quickly with superior striking.

Nate Quarry VS Demian Maia

I thought this would be a much tougher match for Maia than it was, and thought Quarry would be able to avoid the takedowns and possibly overwhelm Maia with his striking. But that wasn't the case. Maia came out and quickly took the fight to the mat with a single-leg takdown. Quarry just couldn't get away. Maia took his back, sunk in the choke, and it was over. Afterwards Maia stated that he thought "Bisping would be a good fight" for him. Very interesting prospects for this jiu jitsu ace, and with Wanderlei Silva in his corner, you know his stand up is coming along as well.

Dustin Hazelett VS Tamdan McCrory

Out of the gates Tamdan used his reach to put Hazelett up against the cage with a flurry of combinations. It looked as though McCrory might have a recipe for keeping the slick submission specialist at bay, but ultimately the fight went to the mat and Hazelett pulled rubber guard. From there he worked an amazing omoplata to armbar transition that seemed so effortless. I sat with my mouth gaping open in awe of his submission capabilities, and his beard. This guy is exciting to watch and very young. I look forward to more from Dustin Hazelett!