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Aloha everybody! In case you haven’t noticed, every time I preview a fight card, my picks are usually about as accurate as Donald Rumsfeld’s predictions about the war in Iraq. I was a reprehensible 8-14 picking fights on an international website.
Until Strikeforce.
The Strikeforce show unfolded almost exactly as I predicted, with one exception: Brett Rogers is better than I thought. I thought he fought a great fight, but Fedor is making a habit of catching guys 0.000001 seconds before they catch him. At what point are people going to stop calling Fedor overrated? Can someone give me a date?
We would have had a second exception, but I was mildly shocked at the Silva-Werdum decision. Definitely a close fight, but I thought Bigfoot did enough to win. And it’s a shame he lost, because in my opinion he has way more tools to throw Fedor off than Werdum does. Oh well.
Anyway, 3-1 ain’t bad. I’m confident enough to bestow upon you, the reader, a preview of next Saturday’s lackluster UFC 105.
PS: go ahead and just “single page” this one, because I’m going to ramble on like Ted Striker in Airplane! Just giving you a heads up.
Alexander Gustaffson (8-0) vs. Jared Hamman (10-1)
I'm going to get straight to the meat of this card, so I'll just say this: Gustaffson by TKO. It's just an all around cooler name.
Andre Winner (9-3-1) vs. Roli Delgado (6-4-1)
Man, it’s hard to keep up with all this new talent coming into the UFC. I’m at the point where I think there is almost TOO MUCH talent. And I’m not going to scour the internet for these two guys’ fights. It just isn’t going to happen.
The only time I’ve seen Winner fight was on the TUF 9 finale. He lost. Wasn’t particularly defiant in defeat, either.
As for Delgado? I vaguely remember watching him fight Junie Browning in that atrocity of a TUF season. I couldn’t tell you what happened.
For no reason whatsoever, give me Delgado by decision.
Nick Osipczak (4-0) vs. Matthew Riddle (3-0)
Most fight fans know Riddle for his devestating knockout of Dan Simmler on the Ultimate Fighter. It was a first in two instances: 1. Nobody had ever been KO’d on TUF to the degree that they were moaning like a Tuskan Raider from Star Wars , and 2. Quinton Jackson had never abandoned his fighter after a demoralizing loss. Imagine what Rashad would have thought of this one.
Since then, Riddle has rattled off three straight dominant but relatively uninspiring decisions against the likes of Dante Rivera, Steve Bruno, and Dan Cramer, none of whom are considered strikers.
Enter Nick Osipczak. His only UFC bout that “counted” was a quick submission win over Frank Lester, but he has more tools on his feet than Riddle. This fight is going to come down to Osipczak’s TD defense. If he can keep the relentless Riddle off of him, he can win a decision by outpointing him.
In my opinion, this is one of those fights that Riddle wins nine out of 10 times. But, reading Riddle’s pre-fight quotes, he is CLEARLY looking past Nick, which seems like a dumb idea when you have never finished a opponent. Osipczak by decision in an upset.
John Hathaway (11-0) vs. Paul Taylor (10-4-1)
I like this matchup. Hathaway is one of those guys who isn’t particularly great at any one thing, but does several things at an above average level. Add that to the fact that he’s a 6’1 welterweight with reach and suddenly you have one of the UFC’s top welterweight prospects.
Then you have Taylor, a solid, if somewhat frenetic striker with a 3-3 UFC record and 3 Fight of the Night bonuses on his resume. Win or lose, Paul Taylor always shows up to fight. You have to hand it to him.
I just think Hathaway has more ways to win this one. He has to be careful when he gets in close, as Taylor has proven he knows how to dirty box with the best of them. But John can use his wrestling, top control and submission game to throw Taylor off and force him to go for broke on the feet. I could see Taylor winning, but I think Hathaway takes this one via decision.
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