Chicks Heart Fights

Hot fights. Hot men. Hot month. There is no other way to describe UFC 87 than hot. I’ve been elbow-deep in the Olympics, yet I still can’t escape the heat permeating from Minneapolis, Minn. for this weekend’s event.  HOT.

Let’s get out the cold compresses and dive in:

Champ Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch (for welterweight title)

GSP has looked unstoppable in his last three fights. Jon Fitch has been the next big thing for a while now, but considering how top-heavy welterweight is, this is his biggest test. Unfortunately, it’s a test he will fail. GSP’s ground game and vicious kicks will win out.

Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring

Brock Lesnar is quite skilled at picking things up quickly. His first fight with Mir made the kind of mistakes that only a beginner would make. (Or a dumb veteran.) Even though Herring won over Cheick Kongo, I’m still not impressed. I think this will be Lesnar’s first win in the UFC.

Kenny Florian vs. Roger Huerta

Speaking of hotness - I need to crank the AC up for this one. This has the potential for fight of the year. Both fighters go nonstop, and are technically sound. The match-up is about as perfect as it gets. I have to pick my man Roger, because, well, he’s Roger. A gal’s gotta follow her heart.

Rob Emerson vs. Manny Gamburyan

Jason MacDonald vs. Demian Maia

Luke Cummo vs. Tamdan McCrory

Dan Evensen vs. Cheick Kongo

Jon Jones vs. Andre Gusmao

Steve Bruno vs. Chris Wilson

Ben Saunders vs. Ryan Thomas

What the web is saying…

Cage Potato 

Bloody Elbow

I’m still conflicted - happy for Forrest, heartbroken for Rampage. It was a great fight. Forrest’s kicks early on created trouble for Rampage, and he couldn’t recover. Though he threw some great strikes, the leg problems limited his takedowns and slams. Forrest was relentless, and as the guy near me at the Tap Room continuously yelled, Forrest is a beast.

A few notes from the other fights:

- Tyson Griffin’s shorts fit him very oddly.

- In Josh Koscheck’s UD win over Chris Lytle, Lytle spilled more blood than I have ever seen in my life, including during trips to the emergency room, and the time my friend tripped over her dog and put a pen through her nose. There was blood on the camera. Koscheck’s bleached blond hair took on a shade of pink, thanks to all the blood. DH said that he looked like Ronald McDonald.

- Joe Daddy was never in danger of submitting from an omoplata during the first round - he just couldn’t get out. He reacted perfectly, stayed calm, and won with a textbook guillotine in the second round.

- During the Almeida-Cote fight, I… zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Seriously boring fight. Congrats to Cote for winning the SD.

- Gerald “Hotness” Harris was working out with Rampage before the fight. DH and I cheered and got very funny looks in the bar.

- Forrest came out to Shipping Up to Boston by the Dropkick Murphys, or as my friend calls it, my Irish bar fight song. That song always makes me want to punch someone in the face.

- Rampage had a breast cancer awareness ribbon on his shorts. I thought that was pretty damn cool.

Gerald Harris - member of Team Rampage on the Ultimate Fighter, comedian, history teacher - answered a few questions for Chicks Heart Fights. Find out what it was like to live in a house with 15 guys, what Harris did to hecklers, and what he thinks of the nickname “the Hotness,” after the jump.

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Well, except for Michael Bisping. However, there wasn’t really a nice guy option in that fight. This was the rare event where the main cards live up to their hype, and we saw some good knockouts. Here is a full recap from someone who wasn’t drinking too much, and information on the fight night bonuses. My thoughts on the evening…

• Lutter’s armbar attempt in the first round was pretty weak. Franklin was in no danger of being submitted.
• Franklin was looking cut last night. As Ezra said: “He can teach me anything he wants.”
• More from Ezra: “Franklin looked better and Lutter looked worse than I anticipated.” Here’s my thing: outside of TUF, Lutter has never looked that good. I’ve always seen him as an underachiever, and last night was no different.
• I love when intelligent guys like Franklin are interviewed. He pretty much called Lutter a bitch without saying “You’re a bitch.” Love it!
• GSP in the red gi = HOT.
• At my bar, I was the only person cheering for GSP. Sorry, I just can’t cheer for the guy with “Buy and sell guns” on his shirt.
• GSP was amazing. His takedowns, knees. strikes, everything were as close to perfect as I’ve seen in a long time.
• Serra, on the other hand, looked like he had no idea just how good GSP was. Didn’t he watch the Hughes fight?
• A friend of mine asked if the knees that put Serra away were illegal. Not only were they legal, they were perfectly placed so they would be legal.
• I didn’t get to the bar until the very beginning of Lutter-Franklin, but I heard about Bisping’s match, and it sounds like his cut down to 185 was a very good move.
• Kenny Florian > Joe Rogan

I think that’s everything. I’ve got to go to church now!

This Saturday, UFC 83’s fight will be played out in front of the largest live crowd ever to watch a UFC event. The Ultimate Fighting world will converge upon Montreal, the hometown of Georges St. Pierre. (A note from GSP’s Wikipedia entry-he once worked as a bouncer at a club called the Fuzzy Brossard. So there you go.) We will have lots of great accents on this evening, with GSP, Michael Bisping, and Matt Serra all representing their ‘hoods. Rich Franklin will of course be representing Ohio, but do Ohioans have an accent? Predictions and a roundup, after the jump.

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Yep, I can’t come up with a more creative title than link dump. Well, not one that hasn’t already been used. Lots has been going on in the UFC, and due to work and celebrating the Cubs, I’ve been a little slow to post. So sorry about that, my four readers.

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I know that this is a blog about wrestling and fighting, but, I don’t get to celebrate this kind of stuff very often…

Hey Chicago, Whaddya Say? THE CUBS ARE GONNA WIN TODAY!

And there is nothing cuter than boys pouring champagne on each other.

The US wrestling world championships team is at a training center in Austria, before heading to Baku, Azerbaijan for worlds. After some intense training, the team definitely seems tougher and more ready for the championships than they have been in years. I confess, my knowledge of international wrestlers is lacking. I can’t give rock solid predictions on medals, but I can gush about my favorite US wrestlers.

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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?

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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! (more…)