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Friday, June 22. 2007
UFC 73 Predictions
Here are ultimate-fighter.net's official predictions for UFC 73 "Stacked"Chris Lytle vs Drew Fickett
Lytle looked fairly impressive in the Ultimate Fighter Finale loosing a close decision to current UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra. Meanwhile, Drew Fickett holds wins over mega contender Josh Koscheck and Josh Neer. Fickett has also fought and lost to Josh Burkman, but has beated Kenny Florian. This is a tough one to pick, but given Lytle's fights with Matt Hughes and Matt Serra, I'm going to give the edge to Chris Lytle.
UFC 73 Prediction : Chris Lytle
Big Nog vs Heath Herring
Minotauro Nogueira vs Heath Herring is Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira's UFC debut fight, but it should be Heath Herring who is nervous. Big Nog already holds a win over Herring as well as wins over Mirko Cro Cop, Josh Barnett and Ricco Rodriguez. His match against the monsterous Bobb Sapp is legendary. Minotauro's only weakness is his takedown defense, but that's rarely been a problem since his BJJ is unmatched in the heavyweight ranks. Clearly I'm picking Minotauro to win this fight.
UFC 73 Prediction : Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Anderson Silva vs Nate Marquardt
Anderson Silva stormed onto the UFC scene with a big KO win over Chris Leben. He followed that up by crushing Rich Franklin and winning the UFC middleweight title. He's sort of defended the title once (sort of because Travis Lutter didn't make weight) and won a submission victory over Lutter, but not before Lutter showed some holes in Silva's game, mainly his take down defense. Now, in Silva's defence, he was injured at the time and Travis Lutter is a real world class BJJ specialist.
Nathan Marquardt holds victories over some pretty impressive fighters, including Dean Lister, Crafton Wallace, Joe Doerksen and Ivan Salaverry. The real question is "can he beat Anderson Silva?" All of Nate's top wins have come by submission or decision, which matches up nicely with Anderson Silva who's losses have only come by submission or decision. Now, most of Anderson Silva's wins are by TKO, while Nathan has never been TKO'd. All of this leads me to believe that this will be a great fight. Although many "experts" have been picking Marquardt to win this fight, I have to go with the champ.
UFC 73 Prediction : Anderson Silva
Tito Ortiz vs Rashad Evans
Tito has more experience and better ground and pound than Rashad. The rest I put even.
UFC 73 Prediction : Tito Ortiz
Sean Sherk vs Hermes Franca
My head says that Sean Sherk is too strong and too good a wrestler, but my heart says that Hermes Franca will find a way to win this fight.
UFC 73 Prediction : Hermes Franca
Monday, June 18. 2007
UFC 72 Opinion
All over the net people were saying that they didn't like the UFC 72 fight card. The lack of big names and a title fight meant that many weren't going to pay the "Pay Per View" price tag. I certainly wanted to see more big names on the card, however the card itself had the potential for some entertaining fights. Well, from and entertainment standpoint UFC 72 was a complete success.
We found out several things at UFC 72.
Clay Guida would make a better 5 round fighter than Tyson Griffin, no matter who the judges gave the decision to.
Yushin Okami may be a talented fighter, but he needs to change his style a bit if he wants to be a star.
Forrest Griffin is able to fight a smart fight and still win 
Jason MacDonald is still "The Athlete", but he still has work to do.
Ed Herman looked good, but he needs to finish a higher quality guy than Scott Smith before he's truly in the 185lb picture.
Lets start off with Clay Guida vs Tyson Griffin. I thought this was the fight of the night (or afternoon if you're in the same time zone as I am). Tyson Griffin dominated the first 7 1/2 minutes and Guida dominated the last 7 1/2. It was a back and forth fight, but if there was another round tacked on, Guida would have taken it based on his superior cardio. Both fighters impressed me and I want to see both fight again. Highlights included a Clay Guida leg lock that had me turning my back on the TV (Griffin was slightly less squeamish as he hammered looping punches to Guida's ribs while Guida tried to bend his knee backwards). Another big highlight was a forward slam by Tyson Griffin. Guida was trying to get a rear naked choke on Griffin, but rode a little high and Griffin almost tried a front roll with Guida on his back, resulting in a big jolt to Clay Guida's neck, but not enough to knock him off. In the end, the judges gave it to Griffin, could have gone either way (I had Guida winning...but would not have argued a draw).
Rick Franklin dominated the entire fight against Yushin Okami (except for one late submission attempt). Franklin moved forward while Okami backpeddled. Not a very exciting fight, but for sure this one was not Franklin's fault, Okami just did not want to engage (which is standard for Okami).
Jason MacDonald was in trouble early against Rory Singer, but rode out the storm and managed to finish Singer in round 2. I wouldn't say that Jason is ready for a title shot again yet, but perhaps another win or two against a big name would put him back in the mix.
Ed Herman dominated the action against Scott Smith (again, if you ignore the choke attempt by Smith). Nuff said about this fight. Maybe Herman and MacDonald should do it again and see who the real contender is.
UFC 72 had some great fights, but really with Ultimate Fighter Finale and UFC 73 coming up it has some tough competition. Also, Shamrock vs Baroni is happening this Friday (not UFC, but I expect to see Baroni back in the UFC after he KO's Shamrock this week.
We found out several things at UFC 72.
Lets start off with Clay Guida vs Tyson Griffin. I thought this was the fight of the night (or afternoon if you're in the same time zone as I am). Tyson Griffin dominated the first 7 1/2 minutes and Guida dominated the last 7 1/2. It was a back and forth fight, but if there was another round tacked on, Guida would have taken it based on his superior cardio. Both fighters impressed me and I want to see both fight again. Highlights included a Clay Guida leg lock that had me turning my back on the TV (Griffin was slightly less squeamish as he hammered looping punches to Guida's ribs while Guida tried to bend his knee backwards). Another big highlight was a forward slam by Tyson Griffin. Guida was trying to get a rear naked choke on Griffin, but rode a little high and Griffin almost tried a front roll with Guida on his back, resulting in a big jolt to Clay Guida's neck, but not enough to knock him off. In the end, the judges gave it to Griffin, could have gone either way (I had Guida winning...but would not have argued a draw).
Rick Franklin dominated the entire fight against Yushin Okami (except for one late submission attempt). Franklin moved forward while Okami backpeddled. Not a very exciting fight, but for sure this one was not Franklin's fault, Okami just did not want to engage (which is standard for Okami).
Jason MacDonald was in trouble early against Rory Singer, but rode out the storm and managed to finish Singer in round 2. I wouldn't say that Jason is ready for a title shot again yet, but perhaps another win or two against a big name would put him back in the mix.
Ed Herman dominated the action against Scott Smith (again, if you ignore the choke attempt by Smith). Nuff said about this fight. Maybe Herman and MacDonald should do it again and see who the real contender is.
UFC 72 had some great fights, but really with Ultimate Fighter Finale and UFC 73 coming up it has some tough competition. Also, Shamrock vs Baroni is happening this Friday (not UFC, but I expect to see Baroni back in the UFC after he KO's Shamrock this week.