For UFC's fight night, I picked: Evans to beat Salmon by 2nd round TKO (1 for 1). As for the rest of the card, I'm going with O'Brien (2 for 2, this was a huge upset by the way), Franca (3 for 3), Lister (3 for 4), Burkman (4 for 5), Ed "Tito shoulda picked me!!" Herman (5 for 6), Guida (5 for 7) and Clementi (6 for 8).
Not bad, eh? I should start putting money on my bets. Too bad Sports Action doesn't cover the UFC.
KO of the night was Ed Herman transitioning from his opponent's back into an armbar. That was very nice. Rashad's KO was more emphatic and people loved it, but when it comes down to it, was simply a roundhouse his opponed failed to block/duck. Technical fans appreciate Herman's on a different level.
I'll give my predictions for UFC 67, Silva vs. Lutter soon, so get ready to bet. If you win, my cut is 15%.
Cheeeeeech.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Pride FC
So Nick Diaz is scheduled to fight Takanori Gomi on Feb. 24th, Pride's 2nd American event. Interesting match-up to say the least. Gomi is very, very highly rated among MMA pundits (#1 Lighweight according to mmaweekly.com) but he's not very well known in the North America. Diaz, the motor-mouth trash talker, is a good fighter but got beaten by Diego Sanchez, Joe Riggs and Sean Sherk recently. He got back on track by winning his last two UFC fights.
Advantages Diaz has is he's bigger than Gomi, and there are different rules for Pride when they fight in North America. I don't believe he'll be allowed to knee to the head of a downed opponent like he is in Japan. Gomi however, has more experience and has been a headliner on the big stage before. He also had a hard-fought decision loss to BJ Penn in 2003. Penn was handing Matt Hughes derrier to him before tearing a rib cartilage towards the end of the second round of their September 06 fight, so there's no shame in that loss whatsoever.
Either way, this will be an awesome fight, as I've always liked Diaz because he seems like someone you love to hate, and not in a Chris Leben way.
til next time
Advantages Diaz has is he's bigger than Gomi, and there are different rules for Pride when they fight in North America. I don't believe he'll be allowed to knee to the head of a downed opponent like he is in Japan. Gomi however, has more experience and has been a headliner on the big stage before. He also had a hard-fought decision loss to BJ Penn in 2003. Penn was handing Matt Hughes derrier to him before tearing a rib cartilage towards the end of the second round of their September 06 fight, so there's no shame in that loss whatsoever.
Either way, this will be an awesome fight, as I've always liked Diaz because he seems like someone you love to hate, and not in a Chris Leben way.
til next time
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Ultimate Fight Night
Figured I'd share my thoughts on the upcoming UFC SpikeTV card on Jan 25. The headliner is Rashad Evans (Season 4's Heavyweight winner) vs. Sean Salmon. I used to be real down on Evans, simply because he's an awesome wrestler who only knew how to take his opponent down and sit on them. He had no MMA offence to speak of. He'd take them down, they'd get back up, he'd take them down again. On and on this went, for about 5-6 straight fights. No knockouts, just lacklustre decisions.
Then something happened in his last fight. He took the man down, and landed some big pops and managed to turn Jason Lambert's lights out. It wasn't pretty, but he showed more speed and a greater awareness. He fought like a big, black, Matt Hughes. His earlier fights reminded me of early UFC fights, where the wrestler would take his opponent down, hold him there, and....wait. and wait some more. and then some more. He showed something more in his last fight though, and that's a good thing.
I'm predicting he'll beat Salmon by 2nd round TKO. As for the rest of the card, I'm going with O'Brien, Franca, Lister, Burkman, Ed "Tito shoulda picked me!!" Herman, Guida and Clementi.
On a parting note, I love Ross Pointon's attitude. He's a terrible Lightheavy and Middleweight fighter though. He gets dismantled by all-around fighters all the time. Here's hoping he has better luck at welterweight. Obviously the UFC likes his attitude too, because the guy has done nothing but lose since he's been with them!!
The full UFC card can be found here.
Then something happened in his last fight. He took the man down, and landed some big pops and managed to turn Jason Lambert's lights out. It wasn't pretty, but he showed more speed and a greater awareness. He fought like a big, black, Matt Hughes. His earlier fights reminded me of early UFC fights, where the wrestler would take his opponent down, hold him there, and....wait. and wait some more. and then some more. He showed something more in his last fight though, and that's a good thing.
I'm predicting he'll beat Salmon by 2nd round TKO. As for the rest of the card, I'm going with O'Brien, Franca, Lister, Burkman, Ed "Tito shoulda picked me!!" Herman, Guida and Clementi.
On a parting note, I love Ross Pointon's attitude. He's a terrible Lightheavy and Middleweight fighter though. He gets dismantled by all-around fighters all the time. Here's hoping he has better luck at welterweight. Obviously the UFC likes his attitude too, because the guy has done nothing but lose since he's been with them!!
The full UFC card can be found here.
Friday, January 12, 2007
MMA news
Hmm, my sources were correct. On Spike TV last night, Randy Couture announced his intentions to come out of retirement to face Tim Sylvia.
I sincerely hope Couture takes it to the big sloth Sylvia. We need an exciting champ for the most exciting sport. Yes, MMA has surpassed everything else in my opinion. I'd much rather watch a big time MMA fight than game 7 of MLB, NBA, or NHL playoffs. You can toss in that Bowl football players play for as well. They don't come close.
On a side note, Vancouver drivers are horrible winter drivers. In the last big snowfall we had, people had problems driving up a 2 degree incline. They insisted on driving on the iced-over, frozen road that other drivers had spun out on. I shifted over 2-3' and drove on the snowy patches and was doing fine, until the idiot driver behind me attempted to pass me. First of all, there's 25 cars in front of me still, that are stuck...where are you going? Second of all, you're crossing the yellow line to pass me. Thirdly, you're an idiot!!
I sincerely hope Couture takes it to the big sloth Sylvia. We need an exciting champ for the most exciting sport. Yes, MMA has surpassed everything else in my opinion. I'd much rather watch a big time MMA fight than game 7 of MLB, NBA, or NHL playoffs. You can toss in that Bowl football players play for as well. They don't come close.
On a side note, Vancouver drivers are horrible winter drivers. In the last big snowfall we had, people had problems driving up a 2 degree incline. They insisted on driving on the iced-over, frozen road that other drivers had spun out on. I shifted over 2-3' and drove on the snowy patches and was doing fine, until the idiot driver behind me attempted to pass me. First of all, there's 25 cars in front of me still, that are stuck...where are you going? Second of all, you're crossing the yellow line to pass me. Thirdly, you're an idiot!!
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
MMA fighting
I heard through the grapevine that Randy "the Natural" Couture is going to announce he is coming out of retirement to face Tim "the-exceedingly-long-and-boring-lecture" Sylvia on March 3, 2007 for the heavyweight title in the UFC on Jan 11, 2007.
3 guesses as to who I'm pulling for?
I think Sylvia is capable of more exciting fights, the problem is, he loves winning so much, he fights not to lose rather than fighting to win. Think in Hockey terms, he's a walking neutral-zone trap. He will sit back and throw jabs at you all night long, lulling you to sleep. Once you get sick and tired of it and aggresively move in, big bad Tim backs up and jabs you some more. I just can't seem to watch his fights without taking a bathroom break or fast forwarding.
He's also one to talk smack. That's another one against the Tim-ster. Tito Ortiz talks smack to sell the fight, make money and he backs it up by going for the win. Tim smack talks, then sits back, jabbing at you with his gangly orangutan arms all night long.
If Couture wins, there's a bunch of interesting fight possibilities with the newly signed Mirko Cro Cop or the ex-champ, Andrei Arlovski.
Then that way, the UFC heavyweight title fight won't have to be on the undercard like it was everytime Sylvia has defended it, in UFC 65 (headlined by Hughes-St. Pierre II) and UFC 61 (headlined by Ortiz/Shamrock II)
In boxing's heyday, the heavyweight fight featuring Mike Tyson was the only match needed to sell tickets and ppvs. Proof the right heavyweight can carry things far, but the wrong one (insert Tim Sylvia's name here) can be downright disasterous.
Here's hoping Couture topples the sleep-inducing giant (and sleep in a bad way, not by knockout) at UFC 68!!
3 guesses as to who I'm pulling for?
I think Sylvia is capable of more exciting fights, the problem is, he loves winning so much, he fights not to lose rather than fighting to win. Think in Hockey terms, he's a walking neutral-zone trap. He will sit back and throw jabs at you all night long, lulling you to sleep. Once you get sick and tired of it and aggresively move in, big bad Tim backs up and jabs you some more. I just can't seem to watch his fights without taking a bathroom break or fast forwarding.
He's also one to talk smack. That's another one against the Tim-ster. Tito Ortiz talks smack to sell the fight, make money and he backs it up by going for the win. Tim smack talks, then sits back, jabbing at you with his gangly orangutan arms all night long.
If Couture wins, there's a bunch of interesting fight possibilities with the newly signed Mirko Cro Cop or the ex-champ, Andrei Arlovski.
Then that way, the UFC heavyweight title fight won't have to be on the undercard like it was everytime Sylvia has defended it, in UFC 65 (headlined by Hughes-St. Pierre II) and UFC 61 (headlined by Ortiz/Shamrock II)
In boxing's heyday, the heavyweight fight featuring Mike Tyson was the only match needed to sell tickets and ppvs. Proof the right heavyweight can carry things far, but the wrong one (insert Tim Sylvia's name here) can be downright disasterous.
Here's hoping Couture topples the sleep-inducing giant (and sleep in a bad way, not by knockout) at UFC 68!!
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