UFC 100: The Lines, The Predictions, The Article

July 10, 2009 By 5 Comments

UFC 100 Preview: Betting Lines, Predictions, Start Time, DateThe Ultimate Fighting Championship will be holding their 100th Pay Per View event this Saturday evening. Less then ten years ago it looked as if the UFC was a failed experiment, but now things seem to have come full circle. It’s PPVs reach millions, a few of its fighters are household names, and Dana White has a successful V-log.

UFC 100

  • UFC 100 Date: Saturday July 11th
  • UFC 100 Start Time 7pm PT/10pm ET
  • UFC 100 TV: Live only on Pay Per View

UFC 100 Betting Lines and Predictions:

Brock Lesnar (Heavyweight Champion) -240 Vs. Frank Mir (Interim Heavyweight Champion) +190

It seems like only yesterday that Brock Lesnar was F-5ing the Big Show on WWE Smackdown, my how time flies. Lesnar is now 2-1 in the UFC and appears to be unstoppable. His combination of size, redneck fervor, and brute force seems to have turned him into some kind of superhuman fighting manufactured home owner.

Back in 2004 Frank Mir captured the Heavyweight Title, then was injured in a motorcycle accident. It was two years before he returned to the octagon, and two more years before he returned to title holder status. The man is a subUFC 100 Preview: Betting Lines, Predictions, Start Time, Datemission expert and seems to have figured out how to win on his feet.

Mir welcomed Lesnar to the UFC by allowing Brock to pound on his face then making him tap out to an ankle lock in the first round. Brock hates Mir for that and for not wearing Death Clutch T-shirts in every interview.

What makes this pick problematic for me is the first fight. Mir said, in a few interviews, he was going to wait for Brock to expose his legs and then attack them because wrestlers tend to forget about them. While Mir was getting pounded by Lesnars meet hooks, he found Brock’s legs, and then attacked them. That says a lot to me about both guys. One, Lesner was relaying on his power and wasn’t paying attention to Mir. Two, Mir actually gameplans.

My Pick: Brock Lesnar… though I don’t feel good about it.

Georges St-Pierre (Welterweight Champion) -300 Vs. Thiago Alves+220

The big news coming into this fight is that Thiago Alves is near making weight. Yeah, nothing about the actual match up. I guess that becomes a big deal when you cut weight to fight at 170 but walk around over 200UFC 100 Preview: Betting Lines, Predictions, Start Time, Datelbs. Also, he has a history of missing weight for big fights (ok one big fight, but it was the one which gave him this fight).

Georges St-Pierre, the man is invincible. He is like MMAs’ Rambo. He will out wrestle a wrestler, submit a BJJ blackbet, KO and standup fighter, and then shake your hand, bow and wish you the best after he wins. After it’s all said and done he will have probably boinked your sister and you’ll shrug it off saying “Well, that guys good.”

This is where I usually give the underdog some kind of fighting chance then mention what the favorite does well. Alves is good at eating and knocking people out; GSP is great at everything else. This money line may be too close (and that line will decide my fate when Alves hits a flash KO and GSP falls while cursing my name)

My Pick: Georges St-Pierre

Jon Jones -450 Vs. Jake O’Brien +325

Yeah there are some bigger fights on the main card like Fitch Vs. Thiago, the TUF coach fight of Henderson Vs. Bisping, or the two grizzled vets Coleman Vs. Bonnar, but this fight is much more interesting. Not because it will be a back and forth battle between two guys fighting for their livelihoods; or because the two men hate each other and it will quickly divulge into an old fashion slug fest. This is interesting because one of these guys is two fights away from being a headliner, and the other guy is from my hometown.

Jon “Bones” Jones is one good opponent or two more wins away from being the UFC’s next big star. He’s only 21 years old but he is already 8-0 in MMA. In two UFC fights he has pounded his way to decision victories. His last fight should have ended in a spectacular KO via a spinning elbow, but Stephen Bonnar somehow stumbled his way back into a defensive position and was able to make it through the rest of the match while getting manhandled. This guy is fast, powerful, and a showman.

Jake O’Brien isn’t exacly someone to overlook though. He had a lot of success as a heavyweight until he ran into the Pitbull Andrei Arlovski. He suffered one more defeat after that and has decided to drop weight to fight in the stacked Light-Heavyweight division. If Jones wasn’t such a young phenom, I would expect to see something out of O’Brien. Though this fight isn’t on the main card, I would look forward to seeing it.

My Pick: Jon “Bones” Jones

Filed Under: MMA Tagged With: brock lesnar, Frank Mir, Georges St-Pierre, GSP, Jake O'Brien, Jon Jones, Lesnar, Mir, Thiago Alves, ufc, UFC 100

MMA Roundup: Lesnar, Mir, Evans, Shamrock, Other Shamrock, Diaz and more

March 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

MMA Weekly Roundup - UFC 100 PreviewMan oh man, what a week it has been in the world of Mixed Martial Arts. Any week in which we have both Shamrock brothers in the news is a week I consider good…ish.

Let’s start with the news from the reigning champions of MMA, the UFC.

UFC 100 would be a huge event no matter what was on the card. The number 100 is a milestone many tried to keep MMA from reaching. Just think back to the late 90′s, when John McCain was petitioning to get MMA banned in the US, the UFC was just getting out of it’s “No Holds Barred” era, and many people viewed the sport as “human cock fighting”. Say what you will about the Feritta brothers, Dana White, and the TapouT Crew (one of whom passed away this week), but without them MMA would have never made it this far.

Just over a month ago it seemed White and company planned on relying on the number “100″ itself to sell the event. They shot down rumors of all titles being on the line that night, they made clear the superfight of our generation between Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre wouldn’t happen, and they had planned to have Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir have their rematch to unify the Heavyweight title at UFC 98. Well what a difference a month makes.

None of this is “official” yet, but the current plans for UFC 100 have Dan Henderson and Michael Bisping facing off in the traditional battle of Ultimate Fighter coaches, GSP is supposed to defend his title against Thiago Alves, and of course the much delayed rematch between Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar for the unification of the UFC Heavyweight Title.

While the UFC is trying to make UFC 100 something special, they still had a UFC 98 that was missinMMA Weekly Roundup - UFC 100 Previewg a main event. It was initially announced that if Quintin “Rampage” Jackson defeated Keith Jardine at UFC 96 he would face off with “Sugar” Rashad Evans for the UFC’s Light Heavyweight Title. Rampage defeated Jardine, had a face off with Evans immediately following the fight, and promptly had to pull out of the fight.

It appears Rampage will be undergoing surgery on his jaw to fix an injury suffered during training for his bout against Wanerlei Silva last December. Now Evans is set to face off against Lyoto Machida. While it is much to early to make predictions, I can tell you that the champion is the early underdog in this fight. Not that I would ever gamble online, but if I did, I may have already taken Evans at +160 in this one.

In order to move away from UFC news, I would like to mention that I will be attending Wrestlemania 25 on April 5th in Houston, Texas. What does this have to do with MMA you ask? Let me tell you, part of this week’s big news involved two former WWF/E champions.

MMA Weekly Roundup - UFC 100 PreviewFormer UFC Heavyweight and WWF Intercontinental Champion Ken Shamrock was supposed to face the former WWE US and ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley at the upcoming Roy Jones Jr.-promoted Boxing/MMA March Badness event. Well, Ken Shamrock has since been suspended for a year from fighting within the US due to testing positive for steroids. Lashley is now scheduled to face off against Clay Guidas’ bigger, not-as-talented brother Jason. Lashley has come out in the last few days saying he wouldn’t mind taking the Shamrock fight to Japan where they don’t uphold US suspensions.

My last little bit of news involves two of the most entertaining fighters in MMA.

Frank Shamrock (adoptive and estranged brother of Ken) will be facing off against perpetual menace to society Nick Diaz. For the record, I am a Frank Shamrock fan. I want to see him fight and I enjoy his spirited verbal sparring most of the time. Nick Diaz I see as a person who has no respect for the sport and the prototype of all that is wrong with meat head fans/fighters. That being said, I am super excited that Strikeforce is making this match-up happen. It could turn into the most entertaining build up to a match since Ali Foreman. As we get closer to the April 11th Showtime fight I will preview more, but for now I will just leave you with quotes from both men. These come courtesy of Cagepotato.com:

MMA Weekly Roundup - UFC 100 Preview

“Someone asked me the other day how my comeback was going so I guess I’ve come back. I love fighting. I love this art. I want to thank Nick Diaz for the opportunity and just warn him that when I punch his head and he lands in the second row he’ll need someone to catch him.” — Frank Shamrock

“Frank can talk all he wants, but I’m going to beat him up. Let’s see how much he fights back.’’ — Nick Diaz

Filed Under: Featured Column, MMA Tagged With: Bobby Lashley, brock lesnar, Dan Henderson, Dana White, Frank Mir, Frank Shamrock, Georges St-Pierre, Ken Shamrock, Lyoto Machida, March Badness, Michael Bisping, Nick Diaz, QUintin Rampage Jackson, Sugar Rashad Evans, Thiago Alves, ufc, UFC 100, UFC 98, WWE, WWF

UFC 94 Recap: The Aftermath

February 1, 2009 By Leave a Comment
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St-Pierre v PennIt’s in the books, UFC94 is done and over. BJ Penn, Nate Diaz, Stephen Bonnar, and Thiago Silva are all scratching their heads trying to figure out what happened. I went 1-2 on my picks and finally hit an upset special. Here’s my quick review.

Starting at the top:

GSP defeated BJ Penn Via Stoppage.

GSP dominated this fight. After watching these two mix it up, it almost seems silly that anyone ever doubted GSP. The only thing Penn showed us in this fight is that he can take a beating, then have his brother throw in the towel. This was 1 round of feeling out and then 3 rounds of dominance. Two questions now remain: 1) How does BJ Penn respond to this beating and 2) Do we now get to see GSP fight Anderson Silva?

The answer to the first question has already started to be answered as BJ’s camp has filed a formal complaint with the Nevada State Athletic Comission over GSP’s corner adding Vaseline to his back in between rounds 1 and 2. As Dana White put it “some Vaseline on a guy’s back didn’t change the outcome of that fight, but you don’t do it.”

Lets hope that UFC continues its tradition of giving us fans what we want and talks Anderson Silva into going down in weight, or GSP into going up in weight so we can finally see who the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world really is (no offense meant toward Fedor).

Next we will look at Jon “Bones” Jones defeating “The American Psycho” Stephen Bonnar Via Decision

I used their ring names because I love them both for different reasons. Bonnar has the best in MMA, and Jones may have the worst. Therefore I am quite fond of them both. UFC94 Review

Jones dominated the first and second round of this fight. He showed aggressiveness and the ability to throw a sick spinning elbow (pictured). “Bones” gassed out in the third, but by that point all he had to do was keep from getting knocked out or submitted.

Bonnar is still good, but he needs to really work to catch up to his TUF 1 opponent Forrest Griffin. Joe Rogan mentioned he is now training at Extreme Couture and that will help him in the future, but if he wants to keep in the mix at 205 he really needs a convincing victory soon.

Now onto the fights I missed:

Lyoto Machida defeated Thiago Silva via KO

UFC 94 RecapYes you read that right. Lyoto KO’ed my pick Silva. This fight went the way I thought it would with Silva trying to be aggressive against Lyoto’s bait and counter style. That being said, I never thought that Lyoto would be so efficient. He knocked Silva silly two times before finishing him off. All it took was a picture perfect foot sweep followed by a fist to the face on his way to the mat with one second left in the first round. When the bell sounded Lyoto got up to walk to his corner and Silva laid motionless. It was an awkward KO and a surprising one given Lyotos penchant for winning by decision. I could be wrong about Lyoto… maybe he is good.

Clay Guida defeated Nate Diaz Via Split Decision

So, due to me working late last night, and not being able to find this fight online, I haven’t seen it yet. I can only assume that Nate Diaz made some profaine gestures then cussed at Clay a bunch. Guida was forced to start swinging his arms like the Tasmanian Devil until one shot hit Nate in the face and they then went to the mat. Now I’ll say Nate again flipped the bird at Guida while Guida was in Nate’s guard. Guida then began to smother Diaz with his curly locks of hair. This went on for 3 rounds. One judge was impressed at Diaz’s ability to keep his brother from jumping into the ring and starting a scuffle, so he gave the fight to Nate. The other two judges were enamored with Guida’s ability to use his hair as a weapon, so they gave it to him. I’ll also assume that after the fight Stocton’s favorite sons, The Diaz Brothers, gave big props to their home town then went on call out fighters who are still under contract to Elite XC.

As mentioned above, I missed the rest of the show, so here is a list of the rest of the fights:

Matt Arroyo defeated Dan Cramer Via Split Decision

Jake O’Brien defeated Christian Wellisch Via Split Decision

John Howard defeated Chris Wilson Via Split Decision

Thiago Tavares defeated Manny Gamburyan Via Decision

Jon Fitch defeated Akihiro Gono Via Decision

Karo Parisyan defeated Dong Hyun Kim Via Split Decision

Filed Under: Featured Column, MMA Tagged With: BJ Penn, Clay Guida, Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, Lyoto Machida, MMA, Nate Diaz, Stephen Bonnar, Thiago Silva, ufc, UFC 94

UFC 94: St-Pierre v Penn 2 – Preview, Predictions, and Lines

January 28, 2009 By 1 Comment
ufc94

UFC 94 Preview - St Pierre-Penn | Preview and Prediction - Betting LinesLadies and gentlemen it’s finally here.

After three weeks of hype, two weeks of underwhelming PPV’s, and a lucky punch by Fedor, we have now come to UFC 94: St-Pierre Vs. Penn 2. Now I’m going to take a moment and let you all know my predictions have been off the last few months. I have gone a total 2-5 since picking for this site and am 0-2 on my upset specials. This has not only hurt my pride but also my check book.

A quick breakdown of the particulars:

  • What: UFC 94: St-Pierre v Penn
  • When: Saturday, January 31 at 10:00 PM ET
  • Where: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas
  • TV: PPV – $44.95 ($54.95 if you want HD)

Let’s start this preview at the top:

Georges St-Pierre ( Welterweight Champion) -185 Vs. BJ Penn (Lightweight Champion) +130

This is one of the most anticipated rematches in UFC history. It has all the makings of a true blood feud. St-Pierre and Penn legitimately dislike each other, their first fight was won on a split decision, and both men are current UFC champions.

If you look at common opponents both men have fought Sean Sherk, Matt Hughes, and Matt Serra. They both beat Sean Sherk by TKO, so no advantage there. They have both beaten Matt Serra, but Penn did it in his first try (decision). St-Pierre got unlucky in their first fight and lost to a TKO, but followed it up with a dominate TKO victory in the rematch. I have to give Penn the advantage there.

Things get interesting as we look at Matt Hughes. Penn submitted a near his prime Hughes in ’04, but then got TKO’ed to a past his prime Hughes in ’06. St-Pierre was submitted by a near his prime Hughes in ’04 and then submitted a past his prime Hughes in ’07. I think St-Pierre gets this one because losing to Hughes in ’04 isn’t anything to be ashamed of, but losing to him in ’06, via TKO no less, is probably a bit of a blemish. While on the subject of Hughes, Saturday night will be the 5 year anniversary of Penn’s win.

The first match between Penn and St-Pierre was a split decision that saw St-Pierre win, but a split decision isn’t much to go off of. Looking at common opponents also wont give you much. I say go with your gut. Mine says St-Pierre wins. He works harder then Penn, seems to take his career more seriously then Penn, and he scares me more then Penn. All that being said, this fight could really go either way. Both are solid standing up and on the ground, both have a blood lust, and both are insanely competitive. I think Penn’s ego gets in his way and St-Pierresomehow pulls it out in the 2nd.. lets say by submission.

My Pick: Georges St-Pierre

What do you think?

Who will win?

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Lyoto Machida -265 Vs. Thiago Silva +200

I’m telling you right now, this will be an upset (but not my special). Both of these fighters stand undefeated with a record of 13-0. It’s my opinion the only reason Lyoto is favored so heavily is because he beat Tito Ortiz. The truth of the matter is that Lyoto won that fight by running away from Tito. He didn’t really land any shots and only seemed to have an advantage once in the fight. He also almost gaveUFC 94 Preview and Prediction and Betting Lines up a triangle to Tito (a man not known for his submission skills). Loyto has won 4 of his 5 UFC fights by decision.

On the other hand you have Thiago Silva. He has won all 4 of his UFC fights by TKO or submission. I don’t think he will let Lyoto run away from him like Tito and others have. Most importantly, Thiago is freaking scary man! I’ve seen all 4 of his UFC fights and he has been dominate. I say this is a first round TKO for Silva

MY Pick: Thiago Silva

Stephan Bonnar -185 Vs. Jon Jones +154

We all know and love “The American Psycho” Stephen Bonnar. His Ultimate Fighter 1 main event against Forrest Griffin helped to cement the UFC as Americas next big sport. He never backs down and he can take a crap load of punishment. We all always pull for the guy, but he hasn’t fought in the UFC since October of 2007 and he is 31 years old. The clock is ticking on Bonnar.

Jon Jones appears to be an up and comer, he’s only 21 and has a record of 7-0. That could be deceiving though as only one of his fights have come in the octagon.

UFC94 Preview, Prediction, LinesThis seems like a developmental fight to me. If Jones loses it wont hurt his stock because Bonnar is a known name with a fan base and a guy who’s only UFC losses come at the hands of the current and former Light Heavy Champions (Rashad Evans and Forrest Griffin). Yet, if he wins it is a upset victory and the UFC has the beginnings of a new star.

I don’t know enough about Jones to predict how this fight will go, but I get the feeling someone in the UFC may have decided to groom this guy. I will choose this as my upset special.

My Pick: Jon “Bones” Jones

Nate Diaz -130 Vs. Clay Guida EVEN

If you’re anything like me, chances are you think Nate and his brother Nick are both a waste of talent. Nate isn’t as bad as Nick, but the simple relation to him makes me hope that Clay justifies the way this line has been moving for the last 2 weeks.

I have no horse in this race, and I don’t know much about Clay Guida, but I want to see Nate Diaz loose. That being said, I pick him to win. He may be a mess as a person, but he has talent. It also doesn’t hurt that the few times I have seen Clay in action he has been inconsistent.

My Pick: Nate Diaz

Filed Under: Featured Column, MMA Tagged With: BJ Penn, Clay Guida, Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, Lyoto Machida, MMA, Nate Diaz, Stephan Bonnar, Thiago Silva, ufc