MMA Hot Stuff

Strikeforce: Evolution Predictions

Never mind the co-main event and TITLE FIGHT guys aren't even on the billboards around the bay area, I'm really excited about this weekend's Strikeforce Evolution card happening Saturday at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA. Here are my predictions, winners in green. Let me know if you agree or disagree.

Cung Le vs Scott Smith - In my opinion there are two areas in which Scott beats Cung... Power and Heart. Aside from that Cung takes the cake. He's got more technical and refined striking, better footwork and ultimately can keep Smith away with his arsenal of kicks. I don't see Smith being able to generate a whole lot of offense here. I expect the movie star to knock Scott out in the second round. There isn't really much more to say other than go check out Cung's latest movie Bodyguards and Assassins coming out later this month.

Josh Thomson vs Gilbert Melendez(to unify the Strikeforce Lightweight Championship belts). As you may recall, Gilbert was the defending LW champion when he and Josh first met in June 2008. Josh won taking the title and belt home. They were set to fight again in April 2009 but the fight was called off because Josh broke his ankle during practice. They were scheduled to fight again in August 2009 but that was cancelled as well due to Josh's lingering ankle injury (or re-injury). During that time Strikeforce created an interim title given Josh's inability to fight, and Gilbert won the title against Rodrigo Damm and then defended that interim title against Mitsuhiro Ishida. So, this fight on Saturday is for us to see who will go home with the true Strikeforce Lightweight Champion title. Is Josh's ankle back to 100%? Has he developed a little 'ring rust' given he hasn't competed in quite some time? My break down is this: No, Josh will not have ring rust. He's been training with some of the best guys in his weight class down at AKA in San Jose.... he trains with the likes of Josh Koscheck, Mike Swick, Jon Fitch... and knowing AKA they go hard all the time. A la remember not that long ago Swick had to pull out of a bout because his training partner (Koscheck) caught him with a leg sweep, giving Swick a concussion? They go hard. HOWEVER, he's fighting GILBERT MELENDEZ. I almost feel like saying enough said, because I think it is. But I can say more. Gilbert has a great camp that includes Jake Shields, the Diaz brothers and of course, the SkrapPack. Gilbert has been spending a lot of time with a trainer focusing on his strength & conditioning, and says his training is more focused and regimented this time around. He's a fantastic wrestler, and isn't afraid to exchange a few blows (or, "throw hooks" as he sometimes says). I'm excited to see how both of these guys have improved since the last time they met. Two great guys. Two fantastic fighters. One winner. I'm going with Gilbert "El Nino" Melendez via decision. I think both guys are just too tough to be finished early, but ultimately Johs' long lay off and Gilbert's more focused training will show, and Gilbert will walk home the undisputed LW Champ. Oh and for extra points I'll say if we see Gilbert dominate Josh like he did against Mitsuhiro I wouldn't be surprised to see the UFC knocking on his door soon. The reality is he's a great person, good for the sport and oh yeah, that hispanic demographic that's out there... yeah I'm sure they'll all be wearing their El Nino shirts tomorrow tonight!

Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza vs Matt Lindland - I'm really excited to see how Jacare does in Strikeforce... coming from Dream. I definitely don't expect to see these two exchange blows or keep it standing for more than 20 seconds in the first round. This is going to be a grappling/wrestling match. I know more people will be putting their new shoe money on Jacare but I expect to see Lindland win this by submission (guillotine) in the second round.

Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal vs Mike Whitehead - We've heard and seen lots of promoting of King Mo! This is his debut with Strikeforce where he's coming from M-1 Global with a record of 5-0. He's known for his knock out power but he's fighting Mike Whitehead who comes with tons of experience. It's hard to say exactly what Mike's area of expertiese is other than he's a calculated fighter and pretty well rounded. I think this is a big fight for King Mo and will NOT be an easy win. Having said that, I'm picking King Mo to win this by TKO... King Mo has a ton of talent and potential, and I think this is the beginning of big things for him with Strikeforce.

If you're going to the event, feel free to msg me on twitter and come say hi! twitter.com/mmahotstuff

 

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

Nominations for 2009 World MMA Awards closes on Wednesday

Who do you think was the BreakThrough Fighter of the Year? Best MMA Promotion? 

As a reminder, the nomination stage for the 2009 World MMA Awards closes this Wednesday (tomorrow), Sept. 30. 

The World MMA Awards, which is operated by Fighters Only magazine, is viewed as one of the most prestigious awards for the sport, awarding in 18 different MMA related categories

Nominees will be announced on Oct. 5, and final voting will then run until Dec. 5. Winners will be announced at a Dec. 30 "Oscars-style" black-tie ceremony, which streams live on Versus.com (and throughout January on Versus) from The Joint at The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. 

"Response to the World MMA Awards has been huge this year with thousands of fans worldwide taking part," Fighters Only CEO Rob Hewitt recently stated. "Nominations have been very diverse, and ... most of the categories are still wide open." 

The categories range from Fight of the Year to KO and Submission of the Year to Best MMA Brand and best MMA Media Source. MMA equipment manufactures also vie for a variety of categories. 

But before you place your vote I encourage you to take a minute and think about things. What makes someone the Best Fighter of the Year? Is it the number of wins? Is it the most vicious KnockOut? The biggest upset? Or is it because of heart and dedication?

Another category is Best MMA Journalist. I've thought a lot about this one (for obvious reasons). Always keep in mind the best Journalist may not be the one that breaks every 'story'... Sadly, fact checking has taken a back seat more often than not over being the first to the party. And then there are times the stories are known weeks before the story actually gets out but can't be discussed for confidential reasons. I personally take pride in the fact that while I consider many Fighters (UFC, WEC & Strikeforce) my personal friends, a lot of the information I hear I keep to myself. I'm so proud of what my friends have accomplished and there are times I know the information is just best left unsaid or unwritten. I want them to have time to train in private for a fight before it's publicly announced who their next opponent is. Who do you consider to be a Journalist that writes funny or interesting stories? Gives a different perspective than the 12 other sites that covered the same thing the day before.

So now that I've given you something to think about, please hurry and vote. 

Also, feel free to follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/MMAHotStuff

UFC 100 Results

UFC 100 did not disappoint, it was full of great fights, rowdy fans and a little bit of drama. Here are the results at a glance.

Jon Fitch beat Paulo Thiago via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Brock Lesnar beat Frank Mir via technical knockout at 1.48, round two

Georges St Pierre beat Thiago Alves via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-44, 50-45)

Dan Henderson defeated Michael Bisping via knockout at 3.20, round two

Yoshihiro Akiyama defeated Alan Belcher via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)

Mark Coleman defeated Stephan Bonnar via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Jim Miller defeated Mac Danzig via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Jon Jones defeated Jake O'Brien via submission (D'Arce choke) at 2.43, round two

Dong-Hyun Kim defeated T.J. Grant via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)

Tom Lawlor defeated CB Dolloway via submission (guillotine choke) at 55 seconds, round one

Shannon Gugerty defeated Matt Grice via submission (guillotine choke) at 2.36, round one

The drama came in a couple different fashions. Dan Henderson worked Michael Bisping and a few fans thought that last punch he landed after Bisping was already out was a bit uncalled for. If you ask me it was just his way of getting the last word in. Bisping sort of set it up by running his mouth a little too much before the fights.

I had picked Thiago Alves to beat Georges St Pierre. I really thought he was going to be the upset pick. While it did go the distance, unfortunately Thiago wasn't able to win even one round. I am happy to see he was able to go the distance and look forward to seeing their next opponents. In my opinion, the 170 lb weight class is a bit shallow compared to the other weight classes.

Yikes the drama-rama of the night award goes to Broke Lesnar (aka Nacho Libre). After beating Frank Mir Brock managed to showcase the WWE still left in him by running his mouth. He said something about a horse shoe up the bum, flipped off the 11,000 or so fans that were booing him and then proceeded to say he was going to go drink a Coors Light not a Bud Light because Bud Light won't pay him. And if that weren't enough he closed his speech by saying something about getting on top of his wife...

The lesson learned tonight my friends is there is always a winner and a loser. But in some cases even the winners are losers. Behavior like Brock's will only tarnish the image of a sport that has been fighting for so long to be more mainstream. It's a shame when a publication as great as MSNBC doesn't really showcase MMA and yet when it does it's highlight is Brock's bad behavior.

To be fair, Brock did apologize during his post fight interview with ESPN MMALive. I'm guessing he got a good talking to after his stupidity. I was also reminded by a fellow MMA writer who said "Don't forget he's new to the sport, give him time." Point made but Brock needs to remember he's no longer in the WWE. MMA/UFC fans are a little smarter and a smidgen classier.

I pushed UFC Fantasy all week. How did you guys do? I ended up at 112 out of 24865...

I can't wait for UFC 101. Philly bound. We should have a tweet up! Don't forget you can follow me at twitter.com/mmahotstuff

UFC 100 Pay Per View Locations

UFC 100 sold out before it even technically went on sale to the general public! But fear not, as usual you can watch the exciting fights from the best seats in the house - Pay Per View. I'll be supplying a list of bars/restaurants that will be showing the historic event.

It's the biggest event in mixed martial arts history, and for UFC 100, the Ultimate Fighting Championship is bringing out the big guns. Two championships will be on the line when UFC heavyweight title holder Brock Lesnar defends his crown against rival Frank Mir in their long-awaited grudge match, and UFC welterweight champion Georges "Rush" St-Pierre puts his belt up for grabs against Brazilian knockout artist Thiago "Pitbull" Alves. Also, The Ultimate Fighter coaches collide as Dan Henderson takes on Michael "The Count" Bisping in a pivotal middleweight showdown.

If you're in New York Matt "The Hammer" Hamill and Frankie Edgar will be hosting the UFC 100 Viewing Party at Radio City Music Hall. Tickets for the UFC® 100 Viewing Party at Radio City Music Hall  are on sale now and will be priced at $25 through July 3 (July 4 through the event they will be priced at $30). Tickets can be purchased at the Radio City Music Hall Box Office, Madison Square Garden Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, or online at www.radiocity.com.

Hey fellow San Francisco fans! Looking for a place to watch UFC 100 that also serves the best martinis in town?  The Dirty Martini has three 9-foot projection screens and 2 plasma tv's!  There will be a $10.00 cover charge if you buy your ticket in advance or $15.00 at the door for this event! Tickets will be available on line starting Monday (7/6/09) www.dirtymartinisf.com

 

See below for a complete list of bars/restaurants showing the PPV.

UFC 100 FanExpo - Who will be there?

Today the UFC® confirmed the fighters that will be attending the first ever UFC^® Fan Expo™. The two day expo will be held at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas July 10th and 11th. The fighters that will be at the expo for meet and greets will be UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida, UFC Hall of Famers Royce Gracie and Randy “The Natural” Couture,  and former world champions Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell, “Suga” Rashad Evans, Forrest Griffin, and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. UFC contenders Kenny Florian, Steve Cantwell, Shane Carwin, Marcus “The Irish Hand Grenade” Davis, Tyson Griffin, Clay Guida, Dustin Hazelett, Keith “The Dean of Mean” Jardine, Anthony “Rumble” Johnson, Martin “The Hitman” Kampmann, Josh Koscheck, Joe Lauzon, Junie Browning, Nate Marquardt, Gray Maynard, Karo Parisyan, Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez, Sean Sherk and Mike Swick will also be meeting fans, along with The Ultimate Fighter winners Nate Diaz and Efrain Escudero.

 Fans of the PRIDE Fighting Championships will have the chance to re-live the excitement of Japan’s classic organization as well, with MMA icons Renzo Gracie and Gary Goodridge being joined by “The Texas Crazy Horse”, Heath Herring, and Brazilian superstars Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

And if that’s not enough MMA star power, the premier fighters of the WEC will be on hand to sign autographs, with current champions Miguel Torres, Mike Brown, and Jamie Varner sharing the convention center floor with Urijah Faber, Jens Pulver, Brian Bowles, Joseph Benavidez, Donald Cerrone, Leonard Garcia, Ben Henderson, and Alex Karalexis.

For a list of bars/restaurants showing the historic UFC 100 Pay Per View event - check out this link.

Dream UFC MatchUps

Where have I been?! Sorry y'all, I've been busy with the "day" job. And while I've been away I've put some thought into a few fights I'd like to see.

These are the fights that would really get me pumped up. Before you all send me messages saying "silly girl at least one of these fights has already been announced" I know that. But this is my list of fights I'd like to see. Announced already or not. 
What are your thoughts? Who do you think would win these match-ups?

Oh, and Joe Silva; if you need any more match ups from me feel free to email me. MKThanks.

Brock Lesnar  vs  Shane Carwin

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira  vs  Randy Couture

Rashad Evans  vs  Lyoto Machida

Matt Hamill  vs  Brandon Vera

Dan Henderson  vs  Keith Jardine

Michael Bisping  vs  Patrick Cote

Damien Maia  vs  Anderson Silva

Matt Brown  vs  Tamdan McCrory

Jon Fitch  vs  Marcus Davis

Clay Guida  vs  Joe Stevenson

Sean Sherk  vs  Nate Diaz

A Great Month To Be A MMA Fan!

What a way to start a new year!

January is mapped out to be a killermonth for MMA Fans! This month we have four star studded events:

·         Jan. 17^th– UFC 93: Dublin (PPV)

·         Jan 24^th – Affliction: Day of Reckoning (PPV)

·         Jan 25^th -  WEC 38: Varner vs Cerrone

·         Jan 31^st- UFC 94: St Pierre vs Penn II

UFC 93 is being held in Dublin, Ireland  In the light heavyweight main event, former two-division world champion Dan Henderson will collide with former UFC middleweight king Rich Franklin in three-round war which will set the tone for the 205lbs division in 2009.

With more than just a win on the line, the winner of Franklin vs Henderson fight will be "crowned" the next coach for the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter alongside Michael Bisping.

Then, 2005 PRIDE® Grand Prix Champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua returns to the Octagon™  to throw down with UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman in a rematch MMA fans thought they would never see. The pair last met in Japan in 2006, with the legendary Coleman pulling off a stunning upset by breaking Rua’s arm in the first round.

Also making his UFC debut is former PRIDE standout Denis Kang!

The match-ups for the event are:
MAIN CARD

• Dan Henderson vs. Rich Franklin
• Mark Coleman vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua
• Alan Belcher vs. Denis Kang
• Jeremy Horn vs. Rousimar Palhares
• Marcus Davis vs. Chris Lytle

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Alexandre Barros vs. Martin Kampmann
• Antonio Mendes vs. Eric Schafer
• Thomasz Drwal vs. Ivan Serati
• Tom Egan vs. John Hathaway
• Denis Siver vs. Nate Mohr

Affliction Day of Reckoning  This event is being promoted by Affliction Entertainment and is scheduled to take place in Anaheim, California at the Honda Center. The event was originally scheduled for October 11, 2008 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. FormerUFC light-heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz will be a commentator for the event. Tickets are still available at www.ticketmaster.com

The main event features current World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts(WAMMA) Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko defending his belt against former UFCHeavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski. Also on the card is Josh "Babyface Assassin" Barnett who takes on Gilbert Yvel. In a light-heavyweight match, current Strikeforce Champion Renato "Babalu" Sobraltakes on former UFC fighter Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. Matt Lindland was re-assigned from a 195-pound catchweight bout with Sobral to a middleweight matchup against former UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion Vitor Belfort.

Headlining the undercard, which will be broadcast on HDNet Fights, the last IFL Light-Heavyweight Champion Vladimir Matyushenko will take on PRIDE veteran (and twin brother of Antônio RodrigoNogueira) Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.

The match ups for the event are:

PPV matches

• WAMMA Heavyweight Championship bout: Fedor Emelianenko (Champ) vs. Andrei Arlovski
• Heavyweight bout: Josh Barnett vs. Gilbert Yvel
• Light Heavyweight bout: Renato Sobral vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
• Middleweight bout: Matt Lindland vs. Vitor Belfort
• Lightweight bout: Chris Horodecki vs. Dan Lauzon
• Heavyweight bout: Paul Buentello vs. Kiril Sidelnikov

HDNet matches

• Light Heavyweight bout: Vladimir Matyushenko  vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
• Welterweight bout: Jay Hieron vs. Jason High
• Featherweight bout: Mark Hominick vs. LC Davis
• Featherweight bout: Albert Rios vs. Antonio Duarte
• Welterweight bout: Brett Cooper vs. Patrick Speight

WEC 38 will bring not only a title fight but also the highly anticpaited rematch between former WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber and Jens Pulver! I don't know why but when I see these two in the cage the song "Eye of the Tiger" runs through my head. The event will take placein San Diego at the San Diego Sports Arena and is expected to air on the Versus Network.

Varner will be making his second title defense after winning the belt. His last fight was an amazing KO victory over Marcus Hicks. Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone is coming into the fight on a high note after defeatingformer lightweight champion "Razor" Rob McCullough in one of the most exciting fights of 2008. Varner has great wrestling and boxing skills, while Cerrone brings great boxing and a wicked submission game. Not to mention that Cerrone fights out of Greg Jackson's camp, so you know he'll come in prepared with a great game plan.

The match ups for the event are:

MAIN CARD

• Lightweight Championship bout: Jamie Varner vs. Donald Cerrone
• Featherweight bout: Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver^]
• Welterweight bout: Danillo Villefort vs. Mike Campabell
• Featherweight bout: Jose Aldo vs. Fredson Paixao

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Welterweight bout: Hiromitsu Miur  vs. Edgar Garcia
• Lightweight bout: Ed Ratcliff vs. Anthony Njokuani
• Bantamweight bout: Dominick Cruz vs. Ian McCall
• Welterweight bout: Blas Avena vs. Jesse Lennox
• Bantamweight bout: Scott Jorgensen vs. Frank Gomez
• Bantamweight bout: Charlie Valencia vs. Seth Dikun

UFC 94 - St Pierre vs Penn 2 In March 2006, top welterweights Georges St-Pierre and BJ Penn fought for the division’s No. 1 contender’s spot. St-Pierre earned a razor-thin split decision and went on to win the Ultimate Fighting Championship® welterweight title. Penn dropped to the lightweight division and won the organization’s 155-pound title.

Now they’re about to do it again. But this time, there’s much more at stake. UFC® lightweight champion BJ Penn looks to be the first fighter in history to hold two UFC® championships at the same time when he faces Georges St-Pierre for the UFC® welterweight championship at UFC® 94: ST-PIERRE VS. PENN 2

Also on the card is the American Psycho, Stephan Bonnar taking on the quick rising star Jon Jones, aka Bones. As well as Lyoto Machida, as he returns to the Octagon to continue his run towards a light heavyweight title shot. I also can't wait to see one of our bay area boys Nate Diaz taking on Clay "The Carpenter" Guida! You know a card is packed full of great fights when a fighter such as Jon Fitch is on the preliminary card!

The rest of the match ups are:
MAIN CARD

• Welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre vs. lightweight champ B.J. Penn (for welterweight title)
• Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva
• Stephan Bonnar vs. Jon Jones
• Karo Parisyan vs. Dong Hyun Kim
• Nate Diaz vs. Clay Guida

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Jon Fitch vs. Akihiro Gono
• Manny Gamburyan vs. Thiago Tavares
• John Howard vs. Chris Wilson
• Jake O'Brien vs. Christian Wellisch
• Matt Arroyo vs. Dan Cramer

As you can see, January is packed full of great MMA events, including one of the biggest fights in UFC history as BJ Penn attempts to show he's one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. My predictions will soon follow!!!Also check back for a listing of bars in your area showing the PayPerView events!

ESPN MMA Live Episode 14

Here is Episode 14 of ESPN's MMA Live. We get to hear from Kenny Florian himself regarding his win over Roger Huerta, and his thoughts on what is next for him given the pending fight between GSP and BJ Penn in December.

Poor Kenny, everyone thought his fight with Huerta would determine the next contender for the lightweight belt. Kenny wins and then has to sit back and watch BJ Penn come into the cage after GSP's victory over Fitch and say he wants that fight (and hear GSP agree).

On another note, apparently we'll have to wait a while longer for MMA Live to make it's move from the net to TV.

Enjoy!