MMA Oh Me Oh My

Big UFC PPV this weekend.  I’ve been watching UFC from it’s first inception where they would have these insane tournaments where the winners of fights would get punished by fighting up to three times in a given night.

One of those things that looks good on paper, and sounds kick ass when you’re an audience member but as a fighter, sucks hard.

Having to go up against three cats who want punch your face off, twist your arm or knee or…or a combination of the aforementioned all in one night tends to wear a guy down.

It’s crazy how much the sport has evolved since then.

I introduced UFC to the guys that lived on my floor at residence when I was at university.  It got really popular on the floor to the point where we’d have “UFC Night” once a month.  We’d line the cinderblock hallways with the mattresses from our beds and well…then we’d box and wrestle and kick and scratch and cuss and drink…etc.

We managed to get two UFC nights in before residence administration closed us down.  Bastards.  Twenty guys fighting one another over the course of two months and only one concussion and one trip to the hospital.

C’mon…sounds like a success to me!

;)

As much as it was touted as an art form back then, it genuinely is an art now.  A brutal, calculating, beautiful art.

For some MMA fans, this weekends UFC PPV might not be that big a deal due to the matchups but I’m stoked and here’s why.

Anderson “The Spider” Silva – Middleweight Champion

VS

Travis Lutter

Silva is from PRIDE and came to the UFC, most likely because they drove a dumptruck full of money up infront of his house and said, “Hey…come fight for us.”

His first fight involved dismantling and embarrassing Chris Leben, a fighter known for having a rock solid chin and Silva wrecked Leben in a matter of seconds.

His second fight involved destroying Rich Franklin, the reigning middleweight champion at the time. Franklin is good.  Really, really good, and besides having the physical skills and the cardio to perform well, he’s an intelligent guy too.

Silva destroyed Franklin in a fight that broke my heart.  They wound up in a Muay Thai clinch that ended up destroying Franklin.  It was a slightly scary thing to watch someone who is as good as Franklin get wrecked so easily.

Now Silva is going up against Travis Lutter.  Lutter is a champ off The Ultimate Fighter t.v. show and earned a title shot against the middleweight champion that is currently Anderson Silva.  Lutter is a world class, exceptionally skill jiu jitsu guy.  He can take your arm and shove it up your ass in a matter of moments and do it in a way that will make you think being turned inside out, that’s how much it hurts.

It will be an interesting fight because Silva wants to stand up and throw punches, kicks and knees, and Lutter wants to get to the ground and bend Silva’s joints in directions they’re not supposed to bend.  On “Inside The UFC” last night, Lutter flat out admitted he’s willing to take five or six hits in order to get in close and take Silva down.  That’s some scary strategy.  Silva doesn’t look like he can throw bombs, but he does.  Big scary, hurty bombs. 

This fight really could go either way IF Lutter gets lucky.  I don’t know how strong his chin is because I’ve never seen it tested in other fights but after seeing what Silva did to Leben and Franklin…I think Lutter’s strategy of sacrificing himself, taking a few hits and then taking Silva to the mat…yeah…I don’t think so.

No one in the UFC yet has taken Silva to the second round and I don’t think Lutter’s got the parts to do it either.

Silva --- > by knockout due to referee stopping the fight in the first round

John Halverson

VS

Roger Huerta

 I don’t know anything about either of these guys.  They’re lightweights which means they’ll keep going until one of them rips out the other guy’s heart so it should be a solid fight.  Lightweights tend to put on a good show.

Since I don’t know anything about these guys, I won’t make a call on who will win and who won’t.

Mirko “Cro Cop” Fillipovich

VS

Eddie Sanchez

Mirko comes from PRIDE Fighting Championship in Japan; which is the Pepsi to the UFC’s Coke.  Mirko used to be a police officer in Croatia, then a K1 kickboxer where those guys are worshipped like gods over in Japan.

Where the UFC drove A dumptruck full of money up in front of Anderson Silva’s house, they drove up two or three dumptrucks to get Mirko over here.  The first PRIDE fight I ever saw involved Mirko and the only word I could use to describe the guy is “murderous”.  His thighs look like tree-trunks and he’s got a left kick that can and will put people in the hospital from a single kick.

The thing with Mirko is that everyone knows the left kick is coming, even his opponent knows it’s coming but only a few people seem to be able to find a solution for it.  More often than not, the left kick finds the target and his opponent drops like they’ve just been shot in the head by a sniper a mile away.

Mirko’s not that good on the ground though, and rumor has it he hasn’t that strong a jaw so this Achilles’ soft spot might be the chin.  We’ll see.  Eddie Sanchez is a relative nobody in MMA.  He’s the sacrificial lamb so Mirko can destroy him and get people hyped.  Sanchez has flat out said he’s willing to stand with Mirko and go toe to toe with him.

Admirably brave, but if this cat thinks he can go toe to toe with Mirko Fillipovich, he’s a wee bit over-confident.

My call…

Mirko by decapitation in the first round.  I hope I’m wrong and it’s a solid fight but I think Sanchez is gonna get destroyed.

Quentin “Rampage” Jackson

VS

Marvin “The Beastman” Eastman

Another showcase fight for a new UFC acquisition.  Rampage is the last cat to have ever beaten Chuck Liddell so they’re going to feed Rampage a few lower tier fighters to build up some hype before they throw him up against Liddell…of course that’s if Rampage wins.

Rampage and Eastman have a history.  A long, long time ago, Rampage was being “fed” to Eastman as a chance for Eastman to have a win and look good.  Rampage lost.  Eastman won and then slowly slipped into obscurity.

Rampage fought in PRIDE for a while and things went a bit sour for him there and eventually he wound up with the UFC again.  Straight up, if Rampage didn’t have an old victory over Liddell on his resume, they probably wouldn’t have picked him up. Rampage is a ground and pounder which tends to put his opponents on the ground by picking them up and then planting them with a stunning body slam that tends to get the crowd going.

I haven’t seen Eastman or Rampage fight in a while.  Eastman is no joke.  Neither is Rampage.  I’m hoping Rampage wins simply because he’s a really entertaining guy, during the fight and especially during interviews.  He’d be good for the UFC but he HAS to win the fight against Eastman for anything really good to come of him joining the UFC.

We’ll see…

I’m biased and this is what I hope will happen.

Rampage by TKO in the third.

Patrick “The Predator” Cote

VS

Scott Smith

Cote; a Canadian boy with lots of potential, has dangerous hands and pretty much useless on the mat.  He’s tough, smart and shows a great deal of potential that has allowed him to stay in the UFC despite having four losses.

He’s slowly turning into a “could’a should’a” been fighter however and this fight might be his last one in the UFC is he loses again.

He’s going up against Scott Smith who has some really, vicious hands.  Scott and Patrick are both very similar fighters but I think Scott has Patrick beat when it comes to technical boxing skills as well as simply being able to pack more bang in his punches.  I think Smith might still be riding high on his crazy, super, last second, one-punch finish in his last fight against Pete Sell.

He might still have the momentum with him.

Both of these guys are going to want to stand and bang with each other so…

I put Scott Smith in a decision.

I don’t think he’ll be able to put Cote down but I think he’s got enough skill to make Cote look bad.

We’ll see, come Sunday morning after the event.

Mama said knock you out…

S.