Chicks Heart Fights

- Rashad Evans’ next fight will be against Forrest Griffin. My educated guess is that this could be the main event of the New Year’s Eve-ish fight.

- I wrote about my hopes for Chuck’s future at Ladies…

- Much has been made of Dan Henderson’s takedown defense against Palhares. Of course Palhares would have a hard time taking down an Olympic level wrestler, right? Here’s what I found interesting. Hendo wrestled Greco-Roman, the discipline that does not allow leg attacks. Palhares, accordingly, spent much of the fight going after Hendo’s legs, and Hendo still stuffed him. I guess they teach a little takedown defense at Arizona State?

- During Saturday night’s broadcast, it was announced that Wednesday night’s WEC event will be postponed to November 10 because of Hurricane Ike. It was probably a little premature, but I agree that it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Last night, I wrote about Evans’ sick knockout and Franklin’s convincing win. This morning, I’ll catch you up on the other fights before I head off to church.

- Yep, I had Matt Brown winning over Dong Hyun Kim, but Kim was strong early and late, and that always makes an impression. (It’s called the theory of primacy and recency. I really did pay attention in school!) Between the gash on Brown’s face at the end and the spider-monkey submission attempts, it did enough to put him ahead for the split decision.

- Nate Marquardt looked splendiferous. He was so technically strong, landing accurate punches while winning over Martin Kampmann.

- No matter how many times I hear Hendo come out to Lunatic Fringe, it always makes me happy. Wreestling fans know why!

- Joe Rogan once again wore the same shirt he has worn for several events. Seriously, Joe. I know you can afford it. More than that, someone will give you a shirt for free. Get a new shirt!

- Palhares has very short arms. Like, Matthew McConaughey short. He is also incredibly wild. He defends himself on the ground well, but with some crazy rolls and dives at Hendo’s leg. It’s just kind of odd to see out of someone who is supposed to be a perfect jiu-jitsu technician. He finally took down Hendo via slam.

- Hendo showed amazing defense by getting out of the very tight heel lock by Palhares in the second, and a few attempts at leg locks in the third. Hendo was throwing some good strikes, but more than anything, his defense won him the unanimous decision.

The UFC goes south with a stop in Atlanta for UFC 88. I’m putting the over/under in guys wearing sleeveless shirts at 13,245, and I’m taking the over. Actually, with Georgia near the top of the NCAA rankings, the Falcons not looking gawdawful, and the UFC in town, Atlanta may just explode in happiness. This time, Sherman can’t be blamed.

I’m done making southern jokes - onto the fights. I’ll be honest. I’m not over the moon about these fights, but, quite often, the fights that get all the hype turn out to be the most boring. Chuck Liddell is hoping that a win would give him a title fight against Forrest, and who doesn’t want to see that fight? No promise of a title fight awaits Evans, but it should move him up in the crowded light heavyweight division. My pick is Liddell, TKO by strikes in the second round. More on Chuck here and the fights here and here.

Speaking of the light heavyweight division, Rich Franklin is getting his first chance at the bigger weight class with Matt Hamill. Moving up was a smart move for Franklin when it became clear that Silva was an immovable force. Hamill is hardly a tuna can, and he will give Franklin trouble. Still, I think Ace will take advantage of the extra weight and win by decision. More on Franklin here.

Dan Henderson will also return to the Octagon after two losses in a row. Of course, those two losses add were to Anderson Silva and Rampage, so that doesn’t say much. I think the UFC wants Hendo to win more than anyone, as he will be fighting Rousimar Palhares, a fighter with one UFC win over Ivan Salaverry. But just like you shouldn’t go against a Sicilian when death is on the line, you shouldn’t count out a Brazilian on ground. Hendo, in three. A little more on Hendo is here .

I’m just getting home from the bar, and well, I was pretty disappointed in the overall card. There was not a single “damn, I’m glad I missed my friend’s party to watch that!” fight. (For example, Roger Huerta/Clay Guida fell into that category.) Onto the my thoughts, sponsored by Mickey’s Malt Liquor. (Not really, but was tonight the last fight sponsored by Mickey’s?)

- Fitch vs. Wilson - Wilson didn’t look ready for the UFC and Fitch shouldn’t have let it be that close of a fight. Fitch was not aggressive enough. Everyone is always touting his wrestling experience, yet in the rather important third period, he wasn’t shooting.

- Yushin Okami’s knee might have been my favorite body part of the night. It was quick and decisive in knocking out Evan Tanner.

- Before Leben’s fight begins, Ezra, BBall Coach and I are very confused as to why we are watching this fight. Leben vs. Sakara screams undercard to me! Chris Leben’s sponsor was condomdepot.com, written right across his buttocks. I’ll leave the jokes up to you. He knocked Alessio Sakara back to Rome.

- A few sartorial notes on our announcers: Joe Rogan’s shirt looked like he opened a packaged shirt from JCPenny’s and put it on. Joe, irons are your friend! For Goldberg, his suit coat looked like it was about four sizes too big.

- Earlier today, I was looking forward to the Kongo/Herring fight. I was really thinking that this fight was what would put Kongo on the map. I was wrong. Herring didn’t so much win as Kongo lost. He had no idea what to do when on bottom, and that is not only his fault, but his coach’s fault. A fighter should go through every possible scenario before a fight, so that nothing is a surprise. I mean, Kongo lost a split decision to a guy with stars shaved into his head!  By the way, Bball Coach decided that Herring looked like Andre the Giant in the Princess Bride - aaaaaaaaaaaas youuuuuuuuuuuu wiiiiiiiiiiiish!

- After the fight, Herring said that he wants Bud Light to send him on a crazy horse tour of Iraq. I have no idea what that means.

- Ahhhhhh, Dan Henderson vs. Anderson Silva. Hendo came in to a song that is beloved by all wrestlers, Lunatic Fringe.  He was escorted by some of the members of the USA world greco team, including this guy, who is serving out a suspension during an Olympic year due to positive drug tests. Hendo, I love ya, but really?

- Hendo looked great in the first round. He looked like a different fighter in the second round. Silva’s rear naked choke was a well-deserved submission of the night, as it was locked in so tight that Hendo couldn’t hang on for 10 more seconds, because that’s all that was left in the round.

- I was happy to get to see Koscheck’s knockout of Dustin Hazelett after the Silva fight.

Ok, I think that’s all I have for you five readers tonight.

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Seriously, I can’t wait for Saturday night. I’m not the only one either. Watching Countdown, I see that Dana White is ready to jump through the camera he’s so excited.  The rest of the MMA blogosphere is pretty damn excited, too:

• MMAJunkie has a preview from fighter Frank Trigg
• Dave Meltzer on Yahoo Sports has a profile of Hendo
• Cage Potato has a couple of clips from ESPN interviews of Hendo and Silva.

During the Countdown show, both fighters claimed that the fight won’t last long. I couldn’t disagree more. They are both strong and have excellent physical conditioning. Silva can take punches like few other fighters. Hendo’s wrestling is possibly the best in the UFC but is also an excellent striker. Silva’s muay thai skills are impressive. With the resume of these two fighters, I can go on for days. Hendo is cutting down, but at the same time, he’s a wrestler. Those boys cut weight in their sleep. (Seriously. Talk to any wrestler and he’ll tell you that he’s slept off a pound.) My pick? You actually want me to make a pick?… I have to go with Continue Reading »

As I’ve mentioned before, I will be working on February 2, thus missing UFC 81 and Brock Lesnar’s debut in the Octagon. I am so not happy about this. However - if I had to work on March 1, the night of UFC 82, I would probably just quit my job. This card, which was officially announced on Saturday at UFC 80, is too jampacked to miss.

UFC 82: MARCH 1 IN COLUMBUS, OHIO
venue: Nationwide Arena

-Anderson Silva (#1 Middleweight in the World)* vs. Dan Henderson (#3 Light Heavyweight in the World)*
-Josh Koscheck (#5 Welterweight in the World)* vs. Dustin Hazelett
-Diego Sanchez (#8 Welterweight in the World)* vs. Roan Carneiro
-Cheick Kongo (#10 Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Heath Herring
-Andrei Arlovski (#6 Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Jake O’Brien
-Luke Cummo vs. Luigi Fioravanti
-Jorge Gurgel vs. John Halverson
-Jon Fitch (#4 Welterweight in the World)* vs. TBA

The rankings are from MMA Weekly. A few of my favorites, Koscheck and Kongo are on the card, not to mention the title fight between Silva and Hendo. According to MMA Junkie’s rumor page, UFC 83 is not such a loaded card, and is just a week after after UFC 82. Does that make any sense? Why load up one card and yet leave the other one so weak, and schedule it just one week after UFC 82? Since Jon Fitch is opponentless, it would stand to reason that he would be moved back to UFC 83, but will that one week difference really help the UFC find Fitch an opponent? Before fights are announced officially, a ton of rumors tend to come out about that fight. If the UFC is holding off a major fight for 83, they sure are keeping it under tight wraps. That is a shame, because that hardly gives them the appointment-television cache of UFC 82.

I just ran across some enjoyable links that I need to share with my four readers:

The Fighting Life has a hysterical rundown of UFCMania’s interview with Nick Diaz. I have to agree - Diaz is a little crazy, and I love that about him. One of the major differences between UFC athletes and other major pro athletes is that fighters aren’t usually surrounded by a cadre of publicists. The big names will have a publicist, but guys like Diaz wouldn’t listen to a PR guy or gal in the first place, so it would be a waste of money for him. As a result, we get interviews where he is calling out everyone except my grandmother.

Dan Henderson thinks that UFC isn’t doing quite as well financially as one would think. One caveat - Henderson is a good pal of Couture’s, and since contempt often spreads quickly, Hendo could be just letting some steam off out of frustration over the Couture situation. Or, he could be right - maybe they did overpay for Pride, especially since they are losing athletes to M-1 left and right.

Flo Wrestling has a tour, guided by Rob Koll, of Cornell’s wrestling complex. Cornell has the only freestanding building devoted completely to wrestling in all college wrestling. It’s a pretty impressive place, and the video is worth watching.

For my wrestling fans who are counting the seconds until season starts - Mizzou kicks off at Rider in less than a month - the Ladies… give us a guide to a bye week. Of course, this was written for football, but I think we all need something to do to keep from going crazy. I’ve already taken the suggestion of starting Christmas shopping. I’m halfway done, thank you very much!

A few notes from last night’s fight, and then after the jump, what other people around the Web are saying.

- Four different people sent me text messages saying “Hamill was robbed.” He was, in fact robbed. Seriously, I do not understand how anyone can say Bisping won that fight.

- I now believe that if Rampage is ready for the fight, he can beat anyone. Get Hercules, get Sampson, unearth the Goliath, I think Rampage can take them.

- What does Cro Cop do now? I’m not sure how many more fights are on his contract with the UFC, but can he come back and win? He looked so tentative against Kongo’s aggressiveness. Does he have it in him to win again?

Continue Reading »

I spent most of today outside, so I am pretty badly sunburned. Since the fight is free, I am going to enjoy it from the comfort of my couch. And, since I’m going to be on my couch, I may as well live blog it. We’ll see how it goes, after the jump… Continue Reading »

I’m not going to lie-this one has snuck up on me. I didn’t mean to ignore you, Rampage, Dan Henderson, Cheick Kongo, Mirko Cro Cop. I’ve been a little busy with work, and friends, and writing about wrestling… Please give me another chance, UFC 75! If you read after the jump, I promise I’ll be a better UFC fan! Continue Reading »