Bleacher Report - Articles by Jaime Moreno

Hecho En Mexico: A Closer Look at the Expansion of MMA Into Mexico

Jaime Moreno — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:12:55 -0400

Recently, the UFC has made some formal announcements regarding their push to get our neighbors to the south some serious exposure to the world of MMA. With their recent deal with Grupo Televista, the UFC has put forth a tremendous effort into the Mexican market.

However, this isn’t the first effort there. With TV shows like Guerreros del UFC on Fox Sports en Espanol, Explosion del UFC on Azteca America, and the WEC venture Alboroto also on FSE, Zuffa Inc. has been steadily trying to make the Spanish speaking world the new dominate figure in MMA.

But why the push and why now when there are so many other markets open to the sport?

It seems to me that in order to truly become the global empire the UFC desires to be than Mexico is the obvious next step. Mexico and her fight fans really have a lot of control in regards to combat sports.

The Mexican fan keeps boxing relative in the North America, in particularly in the United States. With mega fight cards in boxing on the horizon involving fighters like Juan Manuel Marquez, Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto, the Mexican fight fan always come out in droves to watch their beloved fighters and hate on the rivals.

Mexican fight fans always have supported boxing, so now is the time for the UFC and MMA in general to tap this market.

The UFC will use a similar blueprint that made them an international hit in the UK. First starts the TV deal with Grupo Televista.

In post UFC 100 interviews Dana White gave us the info on the invasion into Mexico. White said, "We start on free TV. We start educating people on the sport...We'll then bring live event down there. And then we'll continue bringing live events down there."

dd to that TUF 8 winner Efrain Escudero is a native Mexican from Sonora, and the one of the top heavyweight prospects Cain Velasquez is also a fighter that can appeal to the fan base.

The WEC can also have a big role in the expansion. With Mexican American warriors like Leonard Garcia and Manny Tapia who show the Mexican fighting spirit that native Mexicans love to see, the WEC would be foolish not to introduce to them to the fans if they haven’t already been.

The biggest key within the WEC is Miguel Angel Torres current Bantamweight Champion and top five p4p fighter. After his title defense against Mizugaki, Torres spent some time in Mexico and did a bunch of PR promoting the sport.

Torres stated in an interview that he felt that MMA in Mexico would be a hit. He said, “Mexicans love boxing and taekwondo, they love fighting in general. It’s a fight-oriented culture. So when you expose them to MMA, they love that. Just a little more time and they will be all about MMA”.

If the WEC, who have had events in Corpus Christi, TX could use these fighters in a showcase event in say Monterey or Mexico City, then these fast-paced fighters could really appeal to the fans.

Zuffa has the best outline to make MMA big in Mexico but they aren’t the only organization pushing MMA. Total Combat has in the past had events in Mexico and recently took some known MMA fighters into Mexico City this past weekend.

Fighters like Jeff Monson, Eddie Sanchez, and Jesse Taylor made their presents known at Arena Mexico. Combate Extremo is another organization in Mexico that has had some relative success.

Currently the longest running MMA organization in Mexico, Combate Extremo is one of first fights organizations to adopt the Unified Rules of MMA, and has an event coming up on the 23rd in Monterey.

Bellator Righting Championship has recently brought in some bigger named Mexican talent. Fighters like Edwin Aguilar, Jorge “The Naked Man” Ortiz, and Yahir Reyes all made their names known, especially Reyes who had a YouTube moment with a massive spinning back fist on Estevan Payan.

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney saw the potential in the Hispanic fight fan from the get go, when he got Bellator fighting championship a broadcast deal with ESPN Deportes. "Looking at the trends in terms of buy rates on pay-per-view—look at Hispanic fight fans.

"I see a consumer-base that has shown a huge allegiance to the fighting sports, get tied up and wrapped up in it, disproportionately buy pay-per-views, and yet to this point have been virtually ignored by mixed martial arts promoters in terms of really focusing on a show with on-air talent speaking Spanish."

As a younger Mexican-American, I personally have found it difficult to convert my older counterparts who grew up a boxing fan. But with the right marketing of MMA and maybe an up and coming Mexican fighter the sport will grow in the country.

They have the venues like Arena Mexico in Mexico City which holds around 18,000 people, Arena VFG in Guadalajara that holds in the neighborhood of 20,000, and Palacio de los Deportes which holds nearly 30,000 also in Mexico City.

It’s time for this expansion, and I for one am happy that the world of MMA is finally taking notice.

UFC 100: Preview and Predictions

Jaime Moreno — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:19:22 -0400

So it is once again time for me to work on another preview/prediction article. Like always, I’m going to give you some background on the fighters and predict the outcome.

Since starting these write ups I’m 63 percent on my prediction which should be higher if it weren’t for UFC: 98 (I got only four right on that one).

So give me some feedback on this, because I work hard on these, and this one will take me something like eight hours to finish. When I come people, I come strong and with that here we go.

PRELIMINARY CARD

T.J. Grant vs. Dong Hyun Kim

Depending on which Dong Hyun Kim shows up will determine the winner of the fight. The “Stun Gun” has had some good showings and some not so good one in the UFC, and has potential promise in the Octagon.

He has a win over Matt Brown albeit controversial and a loss to Karo that was later overturned to a No Contest. What he has is very good standup and decent takedown defense which he will have to use against Grant.

For his part Grant’s biggest weapon in this fight is submission skills. Before his split decision win over Ryo Chonan at UFC 97 he had seven straight wins via submission and of his 14 wins 12 are from submission.

If 85 percent of your wins are from one method then you have to be good at it. This may be surprising but I actually think T. J. Grant can pull off the upset in this one. T.J. Grant wins via triangle choke in the Second.

Matt Grice vs. Shannon Gugerty

Grice has had an up and career in the UFC going 1-2. He is a wrestler out of Oklahoma and in his last fight was in a brawl against Matt Veach till getting caught with some hands by Veach. Gugerty like Grice has had some up and downs recently.

Gugerty’s last fight was a good one against Spencer Fisher, where he looked to be in the fight the entire time till he got lazy and left himself open for a triangle which Fisher was able to end the fight with.

I think a tough fight like that against Fisher will help Gugerty in this one with the confidence to know he was in there with such a good fighter. Shannon Gugerty wins via TKO in the First.

C.B. Dollaway vs. Tom Lawlor

It’s tough to get real excited about this fight, because this is nothing more than a lob pass for CB. Listen, I’m sure Lawlor feels that he is ready to make some noise in the UFC, but he has a win over Kyle Kingsbury in the UFC, and if you look at the rest of his record, it's full of .500 or lower fighters.

We all know who CB is and know that although he comes off as a cocky guy he has some skills to back it up. He is a great wrestler with developing striking and a team at ACS with world class fighter.

Don’t blink on this one because if it goes past the first three minutes of the first round I’ll be surprised.

CB Dollaway wins via TKO in the First.

Jon Jones vs. Jake O'Brien

This should be a real test for Jon Jones. Up to this point he has looked remarkably good against Stephen Bonner and Andre Gusmao. He has above average hands, very unorthodox kicks, and the takedown ability of an All-American wrestler. His biggest question mark is his cardio or thus far lack thereof.

Irish Jake O’Brien (no relation to Conan) is a wrestling juggernaut with good cardio. People forget that he has been in the UFC since 2006 with a record of 4-2 with his losses going to Andrei Arlovski and Cain Velasquez.

This is his first move down in weight to 205 which is surprising to me because he was easily 235 or more as a heavyweight. If he can make the cut well then I’m eager to see if he can get the fight to the ground and impose his will on Jones.

O’Brien is the best wrestler Jones has yet to face so if Jones can stuff the takedown he will have a big striking advantage over O’Brien. If not we could see an upset on our hands.

Still with all that I have to go with the better overall fighter and at this point in both of their careers its Jones. Jon “Bones” Jones wins via Unanimous Decision.

Mac Danzig vs. Jim Miller

This fight in my opinion should have been on a Main Card but this card is just too stacked. Regardless of all of the prelim fights this one is my favorite. This fight should be very competitive and honestly both men have similar skill sets.

Mac Danzig was TUF Six winner and since then they haven’t given him any real time to breath. With back to back losses to Clay Guida and Josh Neer, Danzig is in a must win situation. He has the vast experience advantage and has some of the best cardio at 155.

Miller also has seen his share of tough fights and is looking to rebound from a one sided lose to Gray Maynard. Previous to that loss Miller was on an eight fight winning streak and his only other lose in his career was to Frankie Edgar.

Miller is very good on the ground in particularly with submissions so he will be at ease if the fight goes there.

I like both fighters but to me the main issue I have is whether or not Miller’s cardio has improved because in the Maynard fight he looked gasses after the first round and could do nothing after it.

Danzig will not have that problem and should be able to outwork Miller in the third. For that reason alone I’m going with the man with the heavy metal name. Mac Danzig wins via Unanimous Decision.

Stephan Bonnar vs. Mark Coleman

This fight had me scratching my head when it was announced. I think we all love a good story and hall of famer Mark “The Hammer” Coleman has one but this may not end well for him.

The question in this fight isn’t if Coleman can take Bonnar down, it’s how long will his gas tank last before Bonnar either TKO him or submits him.

Bonnar for all of his ups and downs can still hit hard and is very underrated on the ground. Remember that Bonnar was a student of Carlson Gracie and achieved his purple belt before Gracie’s passing.

So this fights goes like this: Coleman shoots and gets the takedown for the entire first round.

Round two Coleman already looks gassed and get a takedown only to get submitted via arm bar in the second. Stephan Bonnar wins via second round Arm Bar.

MAIN CARD

Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Alan Belcher—For some reason, people are sleeping on Akiyama, and that isn’t a smart thing. Akiyama is for real with wins over Melvin Manhoef, Denis Kang, and if you ask me, before the illegal soccer kick, he was beating Kazuo Masaki.

He has some sick submission and is good on his feet. And I promise he wasn’t brought here to just win some fights in the UFC and use him for a run in Asia, he is here to compete in the Middleweight division.

Alan Belcher, on the other hand, is a real gatekeeper at 185 and is going to stay there for some time. He is very good standing with some good Muay Thai skills but the submission of Kang aside hasn’t really shown any mad knowledge on the ground.

Belcher is 5-3 in the UFC and again the Kang win aside he has beaten guys he should have beaten and lost to bigger, more well-rounded, fighters.

Akiyama is just that type of fighter who should school Belcher on the ground. Belcher may not want to be anyone’s stepping stone, but on this night he will be. Yoshihiro Akiyama wins via RNC in the First.

Jon Fitch vs. Paulo Thiago

Another fight that is being a bit hyped up a little more than it should is the fight between Fitch and Paulo Thiago.

Let’s be honest here, Thiago was getting owned in the fight with Koscheck till the stunning combo that took Kos out. Did Thiago win the fight? Yes, but how often would he win in 10 tries?

That one time and never ever again. I’m not knocking Thiago, because I think he is a serviceable welterweight but if Kos really isn’t in his league, Jon Fitch is light years ahead of him.

Fitch or as I like to call him “Iron Chin” is the cream of the AKA welterweight crop. He is still young, very athletic, has a long reach, and a black belt in Guerilla Jiu-jitsu under Dave Camarillo. Fitch is easily number three in the division and has stated that he wants another crack at GSP.

Now I’m not discrediting Paulo Thiago, but the UFC has really done him a disfavor here. A better matchup for him would have been someone like Marcus Davis or someone just under the top 10 not the third best guys at 170.

From what I’ve seen of Thiago the only way he wins in on the ground where he is a threat but Fitch’s takedown defense is good enough to keep the fight standing were I think he can use his reach to garner a TKO victory. Jon Fitch wins via TKO in the Second.

By the way, anyone at UFC 100, can you run the “Iron Chin” nickname by Fitch and see if he likes it.

Michael Bisping vs. Dan Henderson

Recently Michael Bisping has been feeling a little pissed off at how people are just discrediting his abilities. Many believe that he is nothing more than a decent fighter who the UFC is backing as the poster boy of UFC international.

Maybe he is and maybe he isn’t but the fact is that is has only one loss in the UFC against former Light Heavyweight Champ Rashad Evans and has looked very good against every middleweight he has faced.

Personally, I think he can be the future of the 185 division and can still be a real threat against Dan Henderson. I don’t like the guy but he is good.

We all know who Dan Henderson is and many of us love his style. The former Olympian and duel Champion in Pride FC at 183 and 205, Henderson is a tough as nails fighter with power in his right hand and world class level wrestling.

Henderson has one massive advantage in this fight and it’s his wrestling, and to win he has to not only get Bisping to the ground he has to keep him there, because of one major flaw in his armor. He has very telegraphed punches that can put you to sleep and leave you open to counter strikes, which Bisping can do.

I like Henderson in this fight but people need to stop sleeping on Bisping because like it or not, he can win this fight and I wouldn’t be that shocked. And if Bisping loses which I think he will, his stock isn’t going to fall that much so long as he stays in the fight and doesn’t look too overwhelmed. Dan Henderson wins via Unanimous Decision.

Champ Georges St. Pierre vs. Thiago Alves (for welterweight title)

I’ve already done an article for this fight, so I’ll spare you of rewriting it on here. For me, the fight is as easy as this. Who can impose who’s will on the each other.

If GSP can take the fight to the ground he has to keep it there and ground and pound his way to a win. If he doesn’t then I can see Alves out pointing him standing.

If it gets past round three then its GSP’s to win, but for the first time ever GSP will have a faster starter in front of him, who has the hand and legs speed to prevent him from just going out there and shooting.

The line has Alves at +260 which translate to be about 30 percent, which I feel is low for the weapons that Alves has. For the money, I’d take a small wager on it, but straight up I still think GSP should win this. Georges St. Pierre wins and is still Welterweight Champion via Unanimous Decision.

Champ Brock Lesnar vs. Interim Champ Frank Mir (heavyweight title unification)

This rematch has been on the UFC hype machine for what feels likes six months and its getting better and better the closer it comes. I think that there is a mutual respect as fighters but I think they personally dislike each other.

Both feel that they are the rightful owners of the title, and both have something to prove.

Love him or hate him Brock Lesnar is the prototype heavyweight of the future. He can cut to 265, weigh in on fight night at over 280 and not have any ill effect from it. He is powerful, quick and can take a punch. He may not have deserved the title shot, but he got it and took a legend out in the process.

Frank Mir is a decorated BJJ practitioner, who has been polishing his standup and looked very good in his recent win over Nogueria. He is also a very big heavyweight and can move quickly in the Octagon.

Mir’s biggest question mark is and has always been his cardio. He at times has looked sluggish and out of shape in some of his fights, and although I doubt he will come in looking bad, I wonder if he can go all five rounds.

For Mir to win he has to end it early with his standup, because if the first fight is any indication, Brock will take Mir down and pound on him relentlessly. I know many will feel as though Mir can get another sub, but If you think that Brock hasn't been studying submission defense since the first fight you are sadly mistaken.

I highly doubt that Brock will leave a leg or arm out there for Mir's taking. I can also see Brock trying to take his time and get the fight to the later rounds which I think will be to his advantage. Mir’s stand up will be better but I don’t think it will matter.

Brock’s upper body is structured for the punishment with his massive neck and shoulders and square head (look at Cro Cop’s head and how it slims down at the chin giving him a point and how Brock’s doesn’t do that, Cro Cop’s head is not built for punishment).

Mir is the underdog in this fight and you’d have to be an uber fan to not understand why, and for my money I wouldn’t bet on him. Brock Lesnar wins and is unified Heavyweight Champion via Fourth round TKO.

FOTN—GSP vs. Alves

SOTN—Yoshihiro Akiyama

KOTN—CB Dollaway

GSP Vs. Alves: One For The Ages

Jaime Moreno — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:08:22 -0400

As a fan, it is always great to see two fighters in the cage who are at the top of their game. Georges St. Pierre and Thiago Alves are just that. Top level fighters with top level training camp and both have the hunger to stay on top.

What should happen in this fight could be historic and I’m not just hoping but guaranteeing a fight that will go down in the record book as one of the greatest fights in MMA.

Georges and Thiago have different styles and the biggest question will be who will impose their will on the other. Will Georges be able to keep the fight on the ground and use his wrestling and ground and pound advantage, or will Thiago be able to stuff the takedown and show the world his superior striking skills.

Both fighters and camps are confident in there fighters abilities.

Teammate at American Top Team, Jorge Santiago, recently spoke to Tatame.com about the pitbull’s upcoming fight. “Pitbull is flying, he wants this belt a lot! ‘Pit’ is a type of athlete that, when you show him a position, he doesn’t forget. You can even do it on him once, but, after he learns to defend, you will never get there again. He is training a lot of wrestling with athletes with Olympic level; I think he is ready for any kind of situation”.

Alves himself has stated the importance of training for the ground game, yet he feels ready for if Georges decided to take it there.

In an interview with Askmen.com Alves stated that, “People haven’t really seen my ground game, I never needed to (show it), but I have been at American Top Team for six years training my wrestling and jiu-jitsu with high level trainers and they are one of the best camps out there so I’ll be very prepared”.

He seems to be in the mindset that this fight will be a mentally grueling fight. In interview after interview Alves has stated that this is going to be his toughest test yet and he isn’t going at his training lightly. “I am pushing myself a little more than before. I’m always preparing myself for a 25-minute fight even if I don’t have a title shot. That’s the way I think, that’s the way I live my life, I’m always trying to take it to the next level”.

Indeed Thiago Alves will have to train to the next level to get past one of the pound for pound best.

In Georges’ camp, the main focus is his ability to break Thiago down.

Head instructor Greg Jackson, referred to it in a recent interview with Mike Straka as finding Thiago’s “safety zone”, which is the place where a fighter goes to when they get in trouble whether it be the clinch, takedown what have you.

Jackson says that although he isn’t broadcasting where he thinks Thiago’s safety zone is there goal is to “hopefully we will be able to exploit it and move around within it”.

And although many believe that Georges is the top guy in the division, he understands the massive danger Thiago provides. “Skill wise he’s bringing a lot more problems on the table than everybody that I’ve fought so far,” St-Pierre stated. “Thiago’s got devastating leg kicks, but that’s not the only thing he’s got. He has great knees, a great left hook. And he’s very heavy handed”.

But you can believe that Jackson and trainer Farias Zahabi will be looking at the game plan like crazy.

Normally I try and predict a fight that I’m breaking down and I will just not right now. As I said in the beginning of the article, this fight has historical implications written all over it. We could see the greatest MMA fight ever.

Shark Fights Five: A Preview

Jaime Moreno — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 18:44:53 -0400

Regional MMA will be on display tonight in the Panhandle of West Texas when “Shark Fights Five,” the fifth installment from the upstart organization out of Amarillo, TX, puts on “Outdoor Bash and Brawl” from Gamboa’s Outdoor Event Center. In addition to eight MMA fights, the open-air event will feature live music from three different bands.

Shark Fights took a much smaller bite for this event whereas their last one was held in Lubbock, TX at the Citibank Coliseum and featured former UFC fighters Don Frye and Jesse Taylor along with former NFL player, Rex Richards. The most high-profile fighter on the card will be former Zuffa fighter Nissen Osterneck, and former UFC lightweight fighter Doug Evans.

Nissen started out his MMA career going 5-0 but stumbled in his WEC debut getting TKO-ed by Jake Rosholtat WEC 36. He got a chance to redeem himself at UFC Fight Night 18 when he took on UFC veteran Jorge Rivera but dropped a split decision. Osterneck will look to go get his career back on track when he takes on undefeated newcomer Kyle Bracey.

The main event will crown Shark Fights first featherweight champion.

Douglas Frey will take on Doug Evans to determine who the best 145 pound fighter is competing in the Lone Star State. With that title to be determined tonight, Shark Fights will have champions at the featherweight, welterweight and heavyweight divisions. TJ Waldburger will be making the first defense of his welterweight title. Waldburger captured the welterweight belt at Shark Fights Four, when he submitted Shannon Rich in the first round.

The upstart organization’s most promising fighter is their Heavyweight Champion Darrill Schoonover.

Schoonover, who holds a perfect 10-0 MMA record, defeated Rex Richards to capture the Heavyweight title at Shark Fights Four. He is currently a competitor on season 10 of The Ultimate Fighter, alongside Kimbo Slice. For Shark Fights, while they are wishing the best for their heaviest champion, they have to be hoping he doesn’t go all the way and win a UFC contract.

While this event may not have the Texas-sized heat in terms of marketable fighters don’t be lulled into a false sense of a tepid future. Shark Fights has big ambitions in the MMA world so look out of the little fight promotion that could in the not to distant future.

Here is the full line up for Shark Fights 5:

145 pounds: Douglas Frey (5-1) vs. Doug Evans (9-4) Featherweight title fight

205 pounds: Lodune Sincaid(14-7) vs. Marcus Sursa (9-4)

185 pounds: Nissen Osterneck (5-2) vs. Kyle Bracey (6-0)

170 pounds: Anselmo Martinez (4-1) vs. TJ Waldburger (10-5) Welterweight title fight

265 pounds: Brian Humes (4-0) vs. Elmore Nicely (0-0)

170 pounds: Derek Campos (3-1) vs. Thomas Grissom (5-2)

170 pounds: Oscar Granado (1-2) vs. Heath Dodgen (1-0)

205 pounds: Conan Kano (3-3) vs. Edgar Santos (0-0)

Thanks to Brian Oswald for the help on this article.

Bellator's New Champions

Jaime Moreno — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:21:31 -0400

Bellator Fighting Championship has concluded its inaugural tournament and has four new title holders in the featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, and middleweight divisions.

The winners will have the championship crown for the next several months till the second season is concluded and they will face those new winners. Here are your introduction to these fighters and how they got there.

Joe Soto—Soto won your featherweight tourney in surprising fashion. Not considered the favorite Soto was under the radar till his second round win over the favorite Wilson Reis. After the dominating win over Reis, Soto went on to beat Yahir Reyes in the final via RNC in the second.

Soto is young and very powerful with a solid background in wrestling and some developing striking. The California high school state champ and two time NJCAA all American wrestler is now considered a top 15 featherweight in the world and with his youth the sky is the limit for the “Hammer.”

Eddie Alvarez—The match-up many of us thought would result in a dramatic final between Eddie Alvarez and Jorge Masvidal didn’t happen in the Lightweight division thanks to Toby Imada’s sick inverted Triangle, however Alvarez (who is a top ten lightweight in the world) did keep his end of the matchup winning the Lightweight title with sheer dominates.

Known for his hard punches and aggressive style, Alvarez nearly didn’t make it past the first round of the tourney. He was dropped by a nice punch by first round opponent Greg Loughran but came back to win the fight and hasn’t looked back since. The win for Alvarez gives Bellator a real feather in their cap and instantly gives them a named fighter to back as their champion.

The only downfall for Bellator is that Alvarez is so desired by so many different organizations that Bellator may have trouble keeping him under their banner. Let’s hope that we get to continue seeing Eddie Alvarez with them.

Lyman Good—is a highly touted young fighter who is undefeated at 10-0 and ran thru the competition in the welterweight tourney. The Team Tiger Schulman fighter made quick work of Omar De la Cruz in a little over a minute in their fight winning via TKO.

Good is a hard working kid who has some real potential, and the personality and back story to attract a ton of support and is young enough to continue on this rise in the division.

Hector Lombard—outside of Eddie Alvarez, Hector Lombard was the most known fighter in the Bellator Fighting Championship and for good reason. The Cuban Judo champion and 2004 Olympian is a dominate grappler fighting out of American Top Team in Florida and holds a very solid 20-2 MMA record.

The former CFC middleweight champion ran thru his first two opponents at Bellator with TKO victories against Virgil Lozano and Damien Stelly both in the first round. His win over Jared Hess gave him the title.

With Bellator new season starting in September these Champions will be looking to defend their belts sometime in early December and with the possibility of the upcoming seasons being on ESPN or ESPN2 the sky is the limit for these and future champs with the organization. Congrats to the champs and to Bellator Fighting Championship.

UFC 99: The Comeback Preview and Predictions

Jaime Moreno — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:51:40 -0400

It’s once again time for my world renowned article that explains to people my thoughts on an upcoming event.

I’d like to apologize for the delay of this events preview and predictions. It’s been a week full of studying for a certification exam and today was the first day I had the free time to write.

For the first time ever the UFC will take place in Germany and will feature six main card fights which I think is also a first. Now on to the picks

Prelims

John Hathaway vs. Rick Story

This will be Hathaway’s second appearance in the octagon and in his first showing did a great job against Tom Egan at UFC 93. Story has had some success against mid level fighters like TUF fighter Brandon Melendez, and former WEC fighter Ryan Healy.

Hathaway has a striking advantage with a bigger reach and better overall skills, and Story has wrestling advantage. The question here will be who can impose their will against the other.

Big show jitters will be too much for Story and I can see Hathaway using his better hands to win in the first.

John Hathaway wins via TKO in the 1^st.

Denis Stojnic vs. Stefan Struve

Evidently Denis Stojnic doesn’t like Stefan Struve or at least he didn’t’ at the weight in, which sucks for Stojnic because he is at a massive reach disadvantage fighting the tall Struve.

The one time we saw Struve he was getting manhandled by Junior Dos Santos but I think that fight did show his real abilities. That and Dos Santos is just beastly. Regardless in a fight between to strikers you should always side on the fighter with the better reach.

And by way better I’m guessing like four or five inch advantage.

Stefan Struve wins via TKO late in the 1st.

Rolando Delgado vs. Paul Kelly

First I don’t dislike Rolando Delgado, I just think his black belt is overrated. He is tall and lanky for 155 which should give most fighters problems but not for Paul Kelly. Kelly is finally at a weight class that suits his frame at 155 and should be able to take every punch and kick Delgado can offer.

The only place I see Delgado winning is with a submission but Kelly’s top control is way too good for that.

Kelly should make some noise in the near future at this weight and I’m personally looking forward to him finishing this fight with a devastating KO early in the First.

Paul Kelly wins via KO in the 1st.

Peter Sobotta vs. Paul Taylor

I like Paul Taylor, I really do, but damn if the UFC isn’t putting him in a bad spot. First off, Taylor is a striker and in order for him to have a shot at a win in the UFC he needs someone to bang with, and Peter Sobotta isn’t a striker.

Secondly, the UFC put him against one of only two Germans on the card. Peter Sobotta is a submission wrestler and is good at it.

The likelihood of this fight being on its feet is like slim to none and with good reason. For Sobotta to win he has to ground and pound Taylor till he gives him his back and sink in the RNC—which is how I see it going.

Peter Sobotta wins via RNC in the 1st.

Dale Hartt vs. Denis Siver

Dale Hartt is a two fight vet of the UFC and is 1-1, but most people know him as the other guy in the cage with Corey Hill had that horrific leg break. Hartt is currently training at Greg Jackson’s camp in New Mexico and oddly enough Siver is in Vegas training at the gym Hartt normally trains at with Xtreme Couture. Odd right?

Regardless Hartt is going to be trying to erase the Hill injury from people’s memory and try and start a new with this fight. Siver for his part will have the entire building on his side and will bring his tools to the cage in hopes of pleasing the home crowd.

I wish I could tell you some cool insight into why I think, either one of them will win but I really can’t. We really don’t know enough about Hartt to say if he is that well rounded and Siver was once solely known as a ground fighter but has had some recent success standing.

Hartt is taller and will have a reach advantage so my guess is he is going to try to keep the advantage forcing Siver to try and take it to the ground. I’m not leaning any sort of way so it’s down to the old coin flip…Denis Siver is the winner.

Denis Siver wins via Decision.

Justin Buchholz vs. Terry Etim

Pink haired Justin Buchholz will try and make it two in a row in the octagon, but will have to face easily his toughest opponent yet. Terry “It looks like I’m sleepy” Etim is a dangerous striker and rather good off of his back with a majority of his wins by submission.

Buchholz has a wrestling advantage here, but I don’t know if he really wants to go there with Etim, who has a 75 percent win rate via submissions, most of which are via triangle choke.

Etim will have a sizable reach advantage who is abnormally tall at 6’1” for a 155 pounder. Buchholz only way to win this fight is by a shocking TKO but Etim’s foot work is too good to allow that to happen.

Terry Etim wins via Triangle Choke in the 1st.

Main Card

Mustapha al Turk vs. Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic

Al Turk is without a doubt coming into the UFC having one of the hardest back to back fights ever. First he got demolished by Cheick Kongo and now faces a hungry Mirko Cro Cop.

Al Turk is a ground fighter, or so he tells people, and will be looking to take this fight to the ground instantaneously and with good reason.

If Cro Cop is half of what he was in 2006 his leg kicks will be devastating and he is saying all the right things about his knee surgery. What remain to be seen is which Cro Cop shows up, the Cro Cop who last New Year’s Eve chopped down the 7 foot monster in Hong Man Choi or the Cro Cop that gave up mentally against Cheick Kongo at UFC 75.

Al Turk needs to follow the game plan Gabriel Gonzaga used to get Cro Cop out of his game which is take the Croatian to the ground and bust him up. If he can’t do that then I can see Cro Cop punishing him with left leg kicks to the body and a highlight reel head kick to end the show.

Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic wins via TKO in the 2nd.

Spencer Fisher vs. Caol Uno

When the event was announced I was more excited to see this fight than any other and am still really jazzed about it. Uno is making his long awaited return to the Octagon and since that time has had some good wins in K-1 Hero’s and made it to the semi finals of the lightweight grand prix in Dream.

This is going to be a classic match of striker (Fisher) vs. grappler (Uno). Uno is a very good wrestler and grappler as noted by his decision loss to Shinya Aoki who has been subbing just about everyone and will be looking to get this fight there quickly.

Fisher is a very good striker with very good technique in his boxing. I really like both fighters and it could make for a very good fight. I’m leaning towards Uno mainly because Fisher has been put on his back before, often times by less the stellar wrestlers and Uno is at the very least one of the best pure wrestlers Fisher has ever fought.

Uno’s top game is what will allow him to ride to a win.

Caol Uno wins via decision.

Marcus Davis vs. Dan Hardy

The fight that has all but stolen the show is this fight that has done so with a war of words between these two men and I’m really glad that it will end after this. Truth is it’s nothing more than hype, at least in regards to Dan Hardy.

Davis looks and is acting pissed off, but it could all be for hype purposes. Regardless this isn’t even a fight as far as I’m concerned. I think Hardy is on the way to being a good welterweight, but Davis is far more experienced than Hardy and far more well rounded to allow this fight to go past the first round.

Yes Hardy has some good wins in the UFC against Gono and Markham, but the Akihiro Gono he fought is light year away from the Gono we all loved in Pride and Markham was overrated and was known to have a soft chin.

Davis is a hard puncher with good boxing skills and is very versed on the ground. He is just closer to his prime than Hardy is and it will show when they fight. Now I’m not saying Hardy doesn’t have a shot, I’m merely stating that I’d place the beating line at 65%-35% for Davis.

If Davis wins can we please see him against someone in the top ten? Man would I love to see him versus Kos. Marcus Davis wins via TKO in the 2nd.

Ben Saunders vs. Mike Swick

This is another fight that is more hype than needed.

Yes, Ben Saunders made Brandon Wolff look like he had a horn coming out of his head, but come on people it was Brandon Wolff. Yes, he is taller than Swick but so what—Swick would have beat Yushin Okami if that fight went one more round, and I know for a fact Okami is much bigger man than Saunders.

Saunders is being hyped as if he is the new Anderson Silva with his Thai Clinch which he is so not. I like the kid but Swick is a massive step up in comp and I personally don’t think he is there yet.

Swick trains with far better fighters at AKA and is still has some of the fastest hands in MMA. He is pen-point accurate with his hands and legs and will out cardio anyone at 170.

It’s just too big of a step for Saunders and his inexperience will show. For the record I’m not even that big of a Swick fan, he has yet to win a significant fight at welterweight, and needs to fight someone in the top five realm to get a title shot.

Anyways back to the fight. If I were Swick I’d get use my speed to move in get the fight to the ground and pound on Saunders for the win.

Mike Swick wins via Decision.

Cheick Kongo vs. Cain Velasquez

Velasquez had a fight lined up with Heath Herring but due to injury Herring had to drop out and now he has a tougher task in front of him. Kongo is very close to a title shot and a win over Velasquez all but guarantees it.

Another Striker vs. Grappler matchup but this time the differences are worlds apart. Velasquez is a division one wrestler at Arizona State and has been able to take everyone of his opponents to the ground at will in his fights.

Kongo is a top level kick boxer who has very good hands that are not only quick but very powerful. The fights go to the fighter who can keep the fight were they want it. Velasquez has to get it to the ground and keep it there, all they while Kongo needs to stuff a few takedowns to punish Velasquez standing.

Unless Kongo can catch Velasquez with a knee on the way to a takedown, there is very little Kongo is going to be able do to stop this fight from going on the floor. With that said I don’t think Velasquez is going to be able to stop Kongo giving him the ability to grind out a victory.

Kongo may be able to stuff a few early takedowns but its gonna be hard to stop them all.

Cain Velasquez wins via Decision.

Rich Franklin vs. Wanderlei Silva

I’m really digging this fight and the fact that it’s at a catch weight, which I hope is an intro into a new division for the UFC (it’s doubtful, but I can dream).

I’m a fan of both fighters but the truth is that Franklin is the less wore out of the two fighters, and will probably have the size advantage.

Wandy has always been a small 205-er and even at middleweight will be one of the shorter fighter in the division.

What I’m hoping for is a entertaining fight between two of best MMA fighters ever, but I just have a feeling the Franklin will be able to keep away from the hooks of Wandy and use his takedowns and ground control to his advantage.

I know that Wandy is a black belt in BJJ, but until he uses it, it isn’t an issue. For Wandy to win he has to make it into a brawl and get inside where he can put his uppercuts and knees to work.

If Franklin is smart he will keep Wandy at bay with his reach and try and counter Wandy’s looping punches with good head movement and stiff punches.

Like in the Velasquez fight I don’t see this fight ending early but it will be exciting. My pick goes to Rich.

Rich Franklin wins via Decision.

Fight of the Night—Franklin vs. Silva

Submission of the Night—Terry Etim

KO of the Night—Paul Kelly

Belfort Vs. Santiago: Who Will Have Their Coming Out Party?

Jaime Moreno — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:33:15 -0400

Affliction: Trilogy will have one of the more interesting middleweight fights in some time, pitting two Brazilian fighters who really need a win over a big name to become a top five contender in the division. Vitor Belfort and Jorge Santiago have both been on a stellar run as of late and both are looking to show off their skills against each other.

It’s a matchup of men who are both well rounded with each have an advantage in their focal areas; Belfort being a better striker and Santiago being the better grappler.

Jorge Santiago is in the middle of one of the most successful runs in MMA and really in the history of MMA. Since April of 2007 Santiago has had a nine fight winning, earning him a title with Sengoku.

In those nine fights not one has gone to a decision, and only in the last fight against Kazuo Misaki did he even looked to be in any real trouble. Originally from Rio de Janeiro, he now trains out of Florida with the famed American Top Team with such fighters as Thiago Silva, Thiago Alves, Matt Brown, Jeff Monson and others.

With a win at Affliction: Trilogy over Vitor Belfort, he could easily elevate his stock to a contender in any organization in particular with Strikeforce who he has fought with and won a four man middleweight tourney and the UFC who he has also fought with and although it did go so well, he has openly stated, would love to return.

In an interview with Tatame.com last month Santiago stated, “I would return very happy! I just didn’t go back yet because I have fights to do in my contract and I still have much to do here in Japan. But, with a good proposal, why not?”

Vitor Belfort is a very recognized name, and with good reason. He was the tourney winner at UFC 12, a former light heavyweight champion back in 2004 and a former title holder for Cage Rage. “The Phenom” has had an up and down career but looks to be coming back to top form.

Most recently he has back to back KO’s of Terry Martin and Matt Lindland, who was at the time considered the number two middleweight in the world. He has top level punching skills and the KO power to take anyone out.

Currently Belfort is training with Xtreme Couture in Vegas and his standup is becoming somehow better than before under Shane Tompkins tutelage. Belfort seems to be ready for the upcoming fight with Santiago, but isn’t too thrilled to be fighting a Brazilian.

When asked about this being only his second fight in his career against a fellow countryman in an interview with Tatame.com Belfort responded by saying, “I’m happy, because it shows that Brazil is the biggest fighter exporter, but, on the other hand, I’m sad, but its ok, we’re professional. He’s a top athlete, from a good team”.

As I stated before this matchup will go a long way in the middleweight standings. Santiago who still has a few fights left in his contract with Sengoku, could be looking to come stateside soon and with a solid win over Belfort would be in the negotiating driver’s seat with any organization.

Likewise with Belfort, a win could bring him closer to a return back to the Octagon. Regardless I’m excited to see this matchup and the after effects of it.

Affliction: Trilogy Is Making Me Mad. Update

Jaime Moreno — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:21:44 -0400

Dude I’m so steamed right now. Affliction is once again getting me excited to watch them, but a part of me should know better. Thus far, they have a main event that most fan have been begging to see in Fedor vs. Barnett, and now there are talks that Gegard Mousasi is going to fight Babalu, what the deuce.

What makes me madder about that is that I can almost guarantee that the numbers will be very good for this event and will make Tom Atencio want to do one more card next year, which makes me even madder.

The rest of the talked about card isn’t all that bad. Who doesn’t want to see Paul “The Headhunter” Buentello beat the tar out of Tim Sylvia, or see Jay Heiron take Paul Daley to the ground and ground and pound him all day?

This still leaves Vitor Belfort, Mark Hominick, Ben Rothwell, and others still left to get a fight.

I guess I’m mad because I know what will happen, we will all love the event, want more, then in a few months after the fight Strikeforce, Dream and others will be buying them out or signing their fighters. I just wish they would have had their crap together before they got us all fired up.

At MMAweekly.com sources state that a fight between Vitor Belfort and Jorge Santiago will be confirmed this week and the fight is set to be on the Main Card of the Aug. 1st event. Your killing me here Affliction, your killing me.

Who Could Challenge Lyoto Machida?

Jaime Moreno — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:30:37 -0400

So now that Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida has won the light-heavyweight the rest of the division should be put on notice. Machida’s reign as champ may be never ending. Machida was able to make the current light-heavyweight champion look amateurish. Rashad seemed to have had the hand speed, power, and movement to fluster Machida, but instead Machida was able to use those same elements to take out the former champ. With that dominant performance the question become is there a fighter today that can beat Machida or are we in for a long ride on the Machida championship train. Currently there are about five fighters who could possibly make a run a Machida but whether or not they could take the title from him is still in the air. In no particular order these are the fighters who I feel can give a good fight to Lyoto Machida, they are: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Jon “Bones” Jones, Forrest Griffin, Brandon “The Truth” Vera. Plus there is one fighter who during his prime could have made given Machida a real run for his money. That man being the five time former world champion, Randy “The Natural” Couture.

Begin Slideshow

UFC 98 Breakdown: Evans Vs. Machida

Jaime Moreno — Thu, 21 May 2009 01:09:38 -0400

If you don’t already know, I picked who is going to win this fight in a previous article, but I wanted to further break down this fight to explain my pick.

This fight, or I should say, who you pick as the winner is really nothing more than a toss-up. They are very similar, both of them have similar strengths and both have very little weaknesses. Again, it’s a toss-up on who wins and who loses.

I’m going to break this fight down into three categories: stand-up game, ground game, and the extras. So with that said, here we go.

Stand-up

Both fighters have developed into top-notch strikers with their hands and legs. Both are unorthodox fighters, with different movements that aren’t normally seen at this weight class.

Rashad Evans was once considered a one dimensional fighter with great wrestling skills but since his TKO of Jason Lambert that thought has changed. Since that ground and pound TKO, he nearly decapitated Sean Salmon, all but ended Chuck Liddell’s career with a perfect overhand right and made Forrest Griffin flail around like a rag doll.

His hands are fast and on the ground he is a killer when it comes to the ground and pound.

Machida, like Evans, is a very good striker with solid one-punch power and some of the most technical kicks in the MMA game. He is an elusive fighter who has some great footwork which allows him to hit people without ever getting hit.

The one plus that Machida has on Evans is his kicks which are used to not only hurt his opponents, but to cause timing issues which make his opponents cautious. Because of his kicks it makes his strikes seem to come from everywhere.

The big difference on the standup is the vastly superior defensive of Machida. Some would argue that Evans has good footwork and good head movement and I agree, but Machida uses his Shotokan Karate to move laterally better than any fighter we have ever seen.

Secondly Machida is a counter striker and will not move away from that mindset, which will make Evans have to go forward in order to get points which is what Machida wants. If Evans goes in a straight line and not at angles it’s gonna be a long night for him.

Machida wins the stand-up game

Ground

This category is where most of the arguing from fans has been vocalized. No one can argue that both men have great striking skills, but many either give too much or not enough credit to the fighters in the ground department.

As I’ve stated before Rashad has top level ground and pound along with some top level takedowns. The one aspect of the ground game we haven’t seen is his submission game. The only two submission victories in his career were by strikes so who knows if he could even get a submission on Machida.

Evans’s wrestling background will serve him well in this fight if he chooses to take the fight to the ground, because in all reality the ground game is the only place we haven’t seen a lot of Machida.

Machida has a black belt in Sumo and BJJ but as I’ve stated, we haven’t seen a lot of that game from him. What we have seen however is his takedown defense and some very good leg trips and throws to get the fight on the ground if he so chooses. He has only two wins by submission, most recently an arm triangle against Sokoudjou at UFC 79.

His biggest advantage here is his takedown defense which in the UFC has been stellar. To my recollection Sokoudjou was able to get him to the ground once and Machida was quickly able to get the fight back on its feet. Tito wasn’t able to take him down and Thiago Silva wasn’t either.

This one is hard to give to any of the fighter, but if I had to choose one fighter to give the advantage to its Evans. His wrestling background is legit and he should be able to get Machida off his feet to try and land some punches.

Because I feel that Machida will win the stand up battle this is the area that Evans has to win to get the victory. If he isn’t able to get the fight to the ground then it could be a long night for him.

Rashad Evans wins the ground game

The Extras

Evans has without a doubt on of the best game planners in the world in Greg Jackson. If I know anything it’s that Jackson and his team is hard at work studying tape after tape of Machida. If there is a whole in Machida’s game they should be able to find it.

Machida for his part is without question the smartest fighter in MMA. He will be playing chess that night and will have an extremely level head about him which is a huge advantage. He doesn’t seem to let the moment get to him and seems very knowledgeable in his art.

MMAth doesn’t work for this fight, and saying one or the other has faced better competition doesn’t either.

Body of work is more important and the fact that Machida has never been close to losing a single fight or a single round makes a big difference. Evans on the other hand had trouble with Ortiz and Bisping which were two fights he should have won with ease.

The extras for me go to Machida.

For me I see this fight as a five round fight with some great moments on the ground and some great moments standing. I can’t see either fighter winning by TKO or submission but it wouldn’t surprise me. I see Machida controlling the fight and dictating where it goes, which will give him the win buy simply our pointing Rashad.

Your Winner is Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida.

UFC 98: Preview and Predictions

Jaime Moreno — Fri, 15 May 2009 00:52:59 -0400

Like always I’m going to put my two cents about the upcoming UFC event. Originally the main event was going to feature Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir, but Frank’s injury delayed the fight until July.

Then we thought we were gonna see Rashad vs. Rampage, but Rampage had an injury and allowed Lyoto Machida to have his long awaited shot at the title.

Regardless this is a solid card with some big names competing. So with that said lets go to the fights.

PRELIMINARY CARD

David Kaplan vs. George Roop—This fight goes down to who can take a better punch, because I think they equal each other out in the ground.

In seeing these guys fight in TUF, I’d go with Roop because of a height and reach advantage. Plus Roop has 3 times as many fights as Kaplan. With that, I’ll go with George Roop via TKO in the first.

Brandon Wolff vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida—Both of these men looked silly in their last fight and are looking to show their skills here.

First and foremost, Yoshida has the ground advantage and I’d give the striking advantage to Wolff although not by much. Yoshida is a Judo player who has some wicked good judo throws.

Add to that his solid submission skills and you have a very good fighter, who has a ton of upside.

Wolff is a Hawaiian who is an okay overall fighter, with decent hands. This fight should go to the ground quickly and I hope we see another stellar submission from Yoshida. Yoshiyuki Yoshida via arm triangle in the first.

Andre Gusmao vs. Krzysztof Soszynski—Soszynski is coming off a really good win over Brian Stann at UFC 97. It seems like a bit much to jump in so soon but what do I know.

His opponent is Andre Gusmao, who in his last fight lost to up-and-coming fighter Jon Jones, however before that fight he killed dudes in the now-defunct IFL.

Gusmao is a Capoeira fighter and has some really good standup skills. I see Soszynski wanting to take this to the ground, but if he can’t it will be a long night of leg kicks and knees.

Overall, I think that Soszynski is a better rounded fighter and should win this. Krzysztof Soszynski wins via Unanimous Decision.

Kyle Bradley vs. Phillipe Nover—First and foremost “Feinting” Phillipe Nover better show the fans why everyone was so high on him. His last fight was the butt-whooping he got at the hands of the TUF winner Efrain Escudero.

Before that fight, Dana White was referring to him as a lightweight Anderson Silva. I think Nover has big upside, but he better start showing it.

Bradley has thus far been winless in the UFC but outside of the UFC has shown some solid standup with eight of his 13 wins coming by TKO or KO. On the downside of that is that four of his six losses have been by TKO or KO.

I’d look for Nover and Bradley to start early with a flurry of crazy punches then Nover will use his wrestling advantage to get Bradley to the floor and submit him before the round ends.

Warning to Nover, if you don’t show the star power that many hyped you to be then you may be seeing the door sooner than you think. Phillipe Nover wins via RNC in the first.

Pat Barry vs. Tim Hague—So I get why this fight isn’t on the main card, but man do I wish they show this fight.

Pat Barry has the striking skills to beat anyone in the Heavyweight division, and in like two or three more wins will be considered a contender, mark my words. His leg kicks are wicked good and under Eric Shaffer his BJJ is steadily getting better.

Hague was a KOTC title holder whose strengths include a good chin and some heavy hands. This could be a great stand up war, but Hague swings wildly with his punches and has a tendency to get tagged with straight punches which Barry has.

My guess is that Barry is gonna wear out Hague's leg and land the right combo of punches to end this fight early. Pat Barry wins via TKO (aka decapitation).

Brock Larson vs. Chris Wilson—I’m a real fan of this fight and think it has the making of a "fight of the night"-type fight.

Larson is a very good wrestler with some good hands, but his biggest strength is his pace and well his strength. He is country strong and has developed into a damn good BJJ practitioner.

Wilson, like Larson, has been around for some time and is finally getting his due. The Team Quest fighter was a standout in the IFL, but has two losses in his UFC career. This is a fight that Wilson has to have and I think that his game plan is to sprawl and brawl as much as he can.

Wilson can’t let Larson get the takedown because if Larson gets Wilson on his back than good night. My gut tells me that Wilson can pull off the upset in this one, but my brain is telling me that this should be another win for Larson.

Maybe I’m hoping for a draw, but that hardly ever happens, so I think I’m going with my gut. Chris Wilson wins via Unanimous Decision.

Main Card

Frank Edgar vs. Sean Sherk—I have to admit that I love and hate this fight. Both men are great wrestlers who have underrated striking skills. Both men are very high paced with never ending gas tanks.

Sherk is the second-best 155 in the UFC, and Edgar is one quality win away from having a title shot. This fight should be a fight of the year candidate and should win fight of the night. These are the reasons why I love this fight.

I hate this fight because it will end with neither fighter taking a real step towards the title shot.

If Frankie wins, then he would still have to face Maynard in a rematch or the Diego/Clay winner to get a shot. If Sherk wins, he should be next in line but something tells me that he is probably gonna have to face the Diego/Clay winner.

It’s a pointless fight. Yes I’m excited about it and yes it should be a great fight, but pointless. Sherk will have the strength advantage which should garner him the victory. Sean Sherk wins via unanimous decision.

Dan Miller vs. Chael Sonnen—I’m really hoping this is gonna be Dan Miller coming out party, but Chael Sonnen is a tough fighter and will give Miller problems. Both men are very good wrestler, with Sonnen probably being better at ground and pound and Miller being a better submission fighter.

I’d love to give the striking advantage to Sonnen but neither one of them is really other worldly in the standup game. Sonnen has seven wins by TKO but 52 percent of his wins come by way of decision.

I can see this fight playing out like Miller’s fight against Rosholt just not ending as quickly, with Sonnen shooting in with a takedown and Miller stuffing it.

This time I don’t see Miller winning with a guillotine, but with something like an arm triangle. I hope this fight is as entertaining as it is in my head because if so, submission of the night here we come. Dan Miller wins via arm triangle in the second.

Xavier Foupa-Pokam vs. Drew McFedries—Two heavy hitters will enter the cage and I promise a ton of fireworks. My issue, though, is that McFedries is a super one dimensional fighter which makes him lose quite a bit in the UFC. He is 3-4 in the UFC and has absolutely no ground game.

Xavier Foupa-Pokam should be able to use his Muay Thai to his advantage and with no shots to worry about; he should be able to pick apart McFedries.

I will take the guy who is more versed in the standup game and that is Xavier “Professor X” Foupa-Pokam via TKO in the first.

Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra—I’ve recently did a piece on this fight and argued that the odds are good enough to bet on Matt Serra. If these guys fought 10 times I would call it a draw with both men winning five times.

This is closer than many are thinking, which why I like Matt Serra in this fight. Serra is heavier-handed than Hughes, and he has much better submission skills.

People will argue that GSP owned Serra in their rematch, but GSP is a totally different animal compared to Hughes, and Hughes openly admits that he has lost more than a step in the octagon.

I think that Serra should be able to stuff Hughes shots and pepper Hughes with his strikes. I don’t think that Serra TKO Hughes but a submission isn’t out of the question, though the likelihood is that he will out-point Hughes in a decision. Matt Serra wins via Unanimous Decision.

Champ Rashad Evans vs. Lyoto Machida (for light-heavyweight title)—This match pits two undefeated fighters who have excellent striking and elite-level ground games. Machida has black belts in BJJ, Sumo, and Shotokan Karate.

He is a wizard at defense both in standing by avoiding strikes and the ground by being elusive and having a very good center of gravity. He has very good leg kicks and a very good straight left hand that lands at will.

To sum up, he is easily the most talented fighter in any division and will be very hard to beat. Evans is a freestyle wrestler with very quick hands and the best head movement in the game.

He has one punch knockout power and has very good lateral movement. He throws a ton of feints which is tremendously underutilized in MMA which leads to a good over hand right or the shot for a takedown.

The truth is that both men have great fighting styles for MMA but only one can win. I would love to say that Machida wins this fight easily, but I’d be a biased writer if I did. I see this being a tough five-round war with one of them being forced to chase the other and getting out pointed.

Going off the past, if this turns into a five-round fight, then Machida wins because he has yet to lose a round in the UFC.

I could be wrong and it could end in a KO in the first minute of the fight but I don’t see that happening. With all that I’m going with the Dragon on this one. Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida wins via Unanimous decision.

My vote for Submission of the Night goes to Dan Miller

Knock Out of the Night goes to Pat Barry

Fight of the Night goes to Frankie Edgar and Sean Sherk.

Enjoy the fights!

Matt "The Terror" Serra Is a Live Dog in This Fight

Jaime Moreno — Tue, 05 May 2009 00:25:07 -0400

First let me state that I’m not advocating gambling with this piece. If you're into gambling and can control yourself, then sweet. Personally, I think that placing even a $1 bet on a fight makes it a bit more exciting.

Also I’m not going to bore you with the details of how to gamble or how to get your bankroll or how to maintain it.

If you would like that type of information, go to http://mmajunkie.com/news/1500/where-and-how-to-bet-mma-now.mma and Performity will give you all the insight you need.

Now on to the show.

I’ve been looking at the odds on the fight between Matt Hughes and Matt Serra and I think that the odds makers have the fight way to lopsided.

As we speak the betting line is -270 for Matt Hughes and +210 for Serra. What that means is that Hughes has a nearly 73 percent chance at winning the fight, while Serra has a 32 percent chance at winning. I know it doesn’t equal 100 percent, but it’s not supposed to.

At +210 the way it would work is if you bet $100 on Matt Serra, it pays out $210. The opposite goes for Hughes, you would have to bet $270 to get $100. Personally I think that Matt Serra wins this fight more than 32 percent of the time. I personally think it’s closer to 40 or 45% but at those odds it’s not a smart buy.

You may be wondering why I think Matt Serra is a live underdog and would be a good bet at the +210 odds, well I’ll tell you.

World Class Jiu-Jitsu

Serra is a world class BJJ black belt under Renzo Gracie and has a ton of awards to prove it. He is a Pan Am medalist as a brown belt, won second at the ADCC in 2001, and was second in Mundials in 1999.

He has the skill set to submit anyone at 170 if there is one area that Matt Hughes isn’t known for its his submission defense as evident by his submission losses to GSP and BJ Penn, and Serra has more than those types of skills.

KO Power

If you don’t believe that this little guy has power then asks GSP. I personally believe that the sole reason GSP has relied so heavily on his ground game to win is because Serra’s power made him gun shy.

Most people will state that Hughes has a reach advantage and size advantage, but so did GSP and Hughes standup is near at the level of GSP. Serra throws nice hooks and good low leg kicks that can more than hurt Hughes if given the opportunity.

The attitude

Personally, I find it hard to root against him. He is a normal guy who just so happens to be able to hurt you in a ton of different ways.

He seems to be a "heart on his sleeve" type of guy, which makes him a fan favorite, except maybe in Canada.

Enjoy the fight and Serra’s upset victory over Matt Hughes.

UFC 97: Redemption Predictions

Jaime Moreno — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 03:17:35 -0400

So like always I’m going to be doing a prediction piece on the upcoming UFC 97: Redemption. I really am looking forward to this event, because it has some good fights on the main and under card. So without further ado.

Sam Stout vs. Matt Wiman

Both Sam Stout and Matt Wiman are considered middle tier lightweight fighters in the UFC and both may be hitting the pavement soon enough if they don’t start making real strides towards the upper levels in this division. Stout is a great fighter outside the UFC, inside the UFC is a different story.

In the UFC he is 2-4 and this just may be his last rodeo in the big show. Wiman has a better overall record in the UFC at 4-2; however most of those wins have been against lesser opponents. He hasn’t done well stepping-up in competition.

Standing I’d give the advantage to Stout who is a much better kick boxer, but if Wiman can get it to the ground he can use his top control to keep it there. For that reason I’m going for the “Handsome” one. Matt Wiman via Second round TKO-GnP

David Bielkheden vs. Mark Bocek

Both men are ground fighters and both have ties to a top team, Bielkheden to the Brazilian version and Bocek to the American version. Bocek has also been training recently in Vancouver at the newly built Xtreme Couture with Chris Horodecki.

The truth is I personally haven’t seen any striking from either guy to give either one of them any sort of advantage there. I feel that Bocek is a bit more dangerous on the ground so I’ll go with him, but I wouldn’t but money on that.

Mark Bocek via Unanimous Decision. By the way if anyone watched ER, doesn’t Bocek look like Dr. Morris?

Vinicius Magalhaes vs. Eliot Marshall

This one is easier than most are thinking. Yes Vinny is a world class Black belt in BJJ, however those skills are only useful against a guy who has no takedown defense.

Eliot Marshall is to skilled and comes from too good of a camp in Team Quest in Temecula and some spare time training with Nate Marquardt in Denver to allow Marshall to just fall for the BJJ traps that Vinny will be trying to set.

Vinny is just way to one dimensional to beat Marshall.

Eliot Marshall via first round TKO.

Ryo Chonan vs. T.J. Grant

This fight should be featuring one of the best UFC fighters ever in Ryo Chonan however his stay in the UFC hasn’t been that great thus far. Ryo is 1-2 in the octagon and his opponent T.J. Grant is a very solid Canadian fighter who is making his UFC debut.

Now I’d love to say the Ryo is going to win this one easily due to Grant making his UFC debut, but I worry that Grant will make the fight interesting enough to really make it more of a tossup. Hopefully Chonan’s training with the team Quest guys in Temecula will pay off soon.

Ryo Chonan via Unanimous Decision.

Xavier Foupa-Pokam vs. Denis Kang

Kang needs this win desperately in order to be relevant in the middle division but Xavier Foupa-Pokam is no slouch. “Professor X” is a French Muay Thai fighter with some serious knees in the clinch.

Since 2006 Professor X has had only one loss and 12 wins with only one of those 13 fights going to the decision. Kang really has no real advantage in the fight except maybe his takedowns, but Xavier has good submission skills, so who knows if Kang will take it there.

I like Kang in general but I don’t like him in this fight.

Xavier Foupa-Pokam via Second round TKO.

Ed Herman vs. David Loiseau

There have been a lot of fans super excited about the Crow’s return but really David Loiseau has had no real competition since leaving the UFC and Joe Silva handed him an easy opponent in Ed Herman.

Herman is 3-4 in the UFC and my guess is that one more loss will send him out the door of the UFC and into Strikeforce or worst yet a smaller venue. Loiseau needs to impress in order to stay relevant in the division, but really the step above an Ed Herman may give him trouble. That said, Herman shouldn’t.

David “the Crow” Loiseau via First round TKO.

Jason MacDonald vs. Nate Quarry

A battle of middleweight gatekeepers should show who is a UFC top ten middleweight fighter and who needs to go back to the drawing board. Both men can stand and trade, but MacDonald has the submission advantage if the fight goes to the ground.

Both men need this win to stay on the thoughts of Joe Silva in regards to future fights. It’s a real coin flip but because of the grappling skills, I think I’m going with the Athlete on this on.

Jason MacDonald via Second round RNC.

Luis Cane vs. Steve Cantwell

I’m not a big time fan of Cantwell, and not just because of his jackassery after breaking his previous opponents arm but because he had the nerve to beat Brian Stann in their last meeting.

My guess is that this match and the next match up will pit the winners together in hopes of seeing the Cantwell-Stann rematch, but it won’t happen because Luis “Banha” Cane is the real deal.

Cane is a great Muay Thai fighter with good head movement as demonstrated in the fight with Sokoudjou. I think that he will outlast and wear down Cantwell. Luis Cane with a win will likely move up in the rankings and face some top level 205’ers.

Luis Cane via second round TKO.

Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Brian Stann

For the record I will never bet against Brain Stann. He has been in more real life shit in Iraq than any of us could imagine. And unfortunately, Krzysztof is in for a world of hurt. The only way Krzysztof could maybe win is if he takes the fight to the ground, but Stann should be able to prevent that.

Brian Stann via TKO in the first.

Cheick Kongo vs. Antoni Hardonk

Kongo has been steadily improving in his MMA career and working with the Wolfslair has help him leaps and bounds. Antoni Hardonk is a real test though to see how well Kongo’s takedown defense is.

I’m really hoping for a good showing by Kongo which will translate into a fight with someone like Carwin or Velasquez if he gets past Herring. Hardonk has got to try and get this fight to the ground to have a shot to win it.

Cheick Kongo via Un. Decision.

Chuck Liddell vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua

I’ve stated my case to why I think Shogun will win in a previous article but here is something to add to the fire.

Last month Fight Magazine did a write-up on why beating on the underdog isn’t the smartest way to make money beating on UFC events. Since UFC 72 the underdog in a main or co-main event has only won six times with two of those times being against Chuck Liddell.

So normally you beat the favorite minus when Chuck is fighting. Chuck is currently at -200 which means he is the favorite to win, so off of what the article says, beat on Shogun at +160 for 100 and you should get a nice return.

Shogun via second round RNC

Middleweight champ Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites

I really feel bad for Thales Leites, because I have the feeling that Anderson is going to make an example out of him. After the Cote fight, Anderson went back to his locker room and fought with his training partners for two more rounds just to calm himself down.

It’s gonna be messy and just straight brutality when he gets a hold of Leites. That’s not to say that Leites has no chance at shocking the MMA world, but I’d give him less of a chance than Serra did against GSP on their first go around.

Leites’s only hope is by something like a guillotine or something crazy like a flying armbar. I just can’t see anything that Anderson won’t be able to stop, which could lead to a ton of blood on the mat. I’m almost afraid to watch this annihilation.

Anderson Silva via decapitation or any way he chooses to win. TKO in the First.

SOTN- Shogun

KOTN- Anderson Silva

FOTN- Cane vs Cantwell

Enjoy the fights

The Iceman Vs. Shogun: The Break Down

Jaime Moreno — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:38:38 -0400

Well, like always, I’ve decided to write an article on the Shogun vs. Iceman fight after reading a couple of puff pieces on this site. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If you’re gonna write an article on here, make it have some substance and not just some non-useful “insight” on a fight. Come with some original thought, please.

Anyway. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua is a former middleweight grand prix winner in Pride FC and a former member of the lethal Chute Boxe club from Brazil who holds a record of 17-3. He is a BJJ black belt under Nino Schembri and a Muay Thai fighter.

His opponent is Chuck “Iceman” Liddell, the former UFC light heavyweight champion who holds a record of 21-6. He is a Kempo fighter with a background in wrestling.

Their more recent records make this fight the most intriguing because it seems to say that both men need this fight to stay relevant to the division. Liddell has been put on notice by his BFF Dana White that, in order to even stay in the UFC, he needs to win and look good doing it.

Both men looked subpar in their last performance,s with Liddell being KOd by Rashad Evans and Shogun winning by a TKO over Mark Coleman while looking very sluggish and needing the last round to pull off the victory.

Standing

The stand-up game is where both men make their living. Liddell was once considered the most feared striker in MMA and his TKO winning percentage more than proves that. 13 of his 21 victories have come by way of KO or TKO, which is nearly 70 percent. The amazing thing about that is that he is, for the most part, a counter-puncher. He is great at backing up and unloading his right hand with tremendous power.

However, his downfall in many of his losses is that his unorthodox style leaves him open to jabs, straight punches, and uppercut. He leaves his hands low, and when he throws his left hand, it leaves him open to a counter right hook.

Shogun, on the other hand, has a more technical striking ability. Like the Iceman, Shogun has a very high winning percentage by KO or TKO. His TKO percentage is 82 percent, easily one of the highest ever. He is highly trained in Muay Thai, so his leg kicks and knees in the clinch are more than capable of delivering a KO blows.

His is super aggressive; however, this truly could be a bad thing in this fight. He has a tendency to walk straight in, stalking his opponents, which is normally a plus for him, but he is going to have to use angles in order to be effective in this fight.

Giving this to any one of these fighters is really tough because both are KO machines. Some have said that without soccer kicks and head stomps, Shogun is a different guy, and I don’t really feel that way.

He is just as effective in the clinch and with his hand that not having those abilities isn’t limiting. That said, I think that Chuck still has one-punch knockout power and that Shogun has to step up the KO with jabs and leg kicks.

Chuck has been working lately with some of the coaches at ATT, and hopefully that means that his defense is getting locked down, which in his last few fights has been the overwhelming negative for him.

Calling this one is harder than I thought, as Chuck’s one-punch KO power vs. Shogun’s more effective weapons make it even. However, I’m gonna call this a draw with a slight, and I mean slight, edge going to Shogun.

Ground

Again, both men have huge pluses in regards to this facet of the MMA game. Both have great foundations that help them dictate where and how they win the fight. However, both men use their skills in completely different ways.

As I stated before, Shogun has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and although he doesn’t have a large number of submission wins under his belt (just one, to be exact), he has displayed how effective it can be. He put on one of the best knee bars in MMA history in his fight with Kevin Randleman, which was a transition from a beautiful foot lock that had Randleman screaming in pain.

Shogun used to use his takedown abilities to stand in one’s guard to then kick the crap out of fighters in Pride, but recently has shown a developing ground and pound game. With all that said, I think taking this fight to the ground will be hard for him to do.

Why? Because of Chuck Liddell’s world-famous sprawl. Chuck was a high school and college wrestler. He doesn’t use his wrestling abilities to take down a fighter but to keep the fight standing. That’s not to say that he can’t take people down—you can ask Wanderlei Silva about how good his takedowns are—he just prefers to sprawl and get the fight to its feet, which for him is a good thing.

In a recent interview with Joe Rogan at the UFN, Chuck stated that he had been working on his takedowns, which may lead me to believe that he may try and take down Shogun, something different for him.

Again this one is difficult to give this part to. Shogun has the ability to finish any fighter via submission, but normally wins by TKO, and Chuck has one of the best sprawls in MMA. If Chuck is truly going to try and take down Shogun, then it could be a mistake by Liddell, but I think Chuck has the upper hand in this category solely due to his sprawl.

The Extras

This boils down to one question: Is Shogun’s cardio where it needs to be? In the Forrest fight, Shogun had a damaged right knee that needed surgery on twice. After the healing process, he fought Mark Coleman and was gassed after the first round.

I get all that, but people need to remember that after a surgery like he had, the last thing you fully regain is your cardio. You can rehab the knee for strength and flexibility before you can get the timing aspects of cardio. I can’t say I know from experience, but I helped my brother with this when he played football, and it took him forever to get back in playing shape after a similar surgery.

You just have difficulty being able to go hard if you’re not at least at 90 percent, and in my honest opinion, I don’t think he was in the Coleman fight. Truth is, I don’t think he will be at 100 percent in this fight, but a Shogun at 90 percent is better than most others at full strength.

The other question is, how far away is Chuck from the dominant fighter he used to be? If one thing is certain about the Iceman, it’s that the pre-Rampage fight Chuck Liddell will not be coming back any time soon. If you have to change up your entire prefight camp in order to stay relevant, then something is wrong. He is much older and is fighting a guy in Shogun who traditionally he has had problems with.

Chuck is at his peak when he is facing a fighter who stands in front of him and tries to out-punch him when the fighter has no business doing that. His two wins over Tito, Randy, Babalu, Vernon White, and Horn shows this to the T. When he doesn’t have the power to stun, he is free to shot from the hips.

However, in his losses to Rampage, Jardine, and Rashad, it shows that if he has good head movement and power to his punches, then he can’t just shoot from the hip.

Prediction

Both of these men have ways to win this fight, but for me it boils down to who has more opportunity and more weapons. For that reason, I’m going with the younger and more technically-sound Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. How he wins may be a stretch, but I think that Chuck will try to make this a ground fight, which will be his downfall.

In short, the fight will be stopped by submission, with Shogun winning via a second-round RNC.

My Formal Apology to the MMA Community

Jaime Moreno — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:37:39 -0400

First off, what’s been happening in our community is really starting to bother me. I think it’s petty and has no need on this site. With that said I have evidently been part of the problem.

So because I’ve been so hurtful to certain people on this site, let me say off the bat that I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ruffle any feathers with any of my comments but I guess that I have.

Now let me also state that for those of you who don’t like the way I write or think that I’m uneducated because I happen to misspell a word or two and sometimes just out right miss a word that may or may not be needed in my writing, I really can’t help it.

I rarely ever speak of my problem, but I’m a bit dyslexic. It’s not anything that I ever bring up, because now that I’m adult I’ve been able to work around it. It creeps up at times, in regards to sentence structure however for the most part I catch my mistakes, but evidently not always.

I’m sorry for my horrible spelling and I will work on making it better.

Now on to the person who I offended the most on this site, that being Grandma Dee. You of all people know that you were the first writer that I ever became a fan of. I’ve always loved your articles, and have learned a lot from them.

The truth is reading articles like yours, and Brian Oswald's have made my writing in general much better. As a history student, I have to write a ton and you guys make my writing more complete, so for that I thank you.

My issue with you when all this started was that I felt that you got way over heated when Jessy and Brian were only trying to give you respect and mad props. You for some reason took offense and I took offense to you bashing two writers that I consider to be great writers and friends.

My bad for trying to defend them, and in retrospect I should have let them take care of it themselves and not interfered. I still think that your writing has slipped and I still challenge you to write about something not involving GSP and your hate for those who say a word against him.

With all that said I still am very sorry to upset you. I’m an adult and as an adult I should have given you the respect that you deserve as an elder in the world and the leader in this site.

To Jessy and Brian I’m sorry for lowering the standard that you and others have set so high. My actions have helped to bring the community down, and with that I will refrain from writing on here for a bit.

Consider it a self-imposed time out for my actions. While I take this leave of absence, I’d like to tell all the readers and writers of the community to use what I and others did in the past week and use it as an example of how not to act. Peace out.

April's Other MMA Events

Jaime Moreno — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:42:56 -0400

Since most MMA sites tend to focus UFC events, I’ve decided to give the readers some information on other MMA events that are occurring in the month of April. April, is loaded with very solid events in Japan and even here in the states.

Bellator Fighting Championship will make it start on April 4 and will continue for 12 weeks. The series of events will be shown on ESPNDeportes and features some known and unknown fighters. The series will involve four grand prix style tournaments from the 145 to 185 lbs.

The series starts off with the smaller guys with Eddie Alvarez vs. Greg Loughran and Jorge Masvidal vs. Nick Aguliar. Alvarez and Masvidal are considered the favorites in the 155 tourney. The 145 tourney will also be underway with two men to look for in Estevan Payan and Joe Soto.

Payan is a product of Arizona Combat Sport which is the home of WEC champ Jamie Varner and Former WEC welterweight champ Carlos Condit. Payan is 6-1 and has half of his wins by submission and Soto is 4-0 and has never been out of the first round.

The second BFC event is the very next week and will feature Wilson Reis in the 145 tourney. Reis was the lightweight champ in Elite XC and will be a real force in the 145 tourney. The event will also showcase the man with one of the most original nicknames in MMA in Jorge “the naked man” Ortiz.

Ortiz has been in the cage with some names with decision losses to John Fitch and Eugene Jackson and has a win over Jason Guida. Another fight to look out for is Victor Meza who fights out Southwest MMA alongside TUF lightweight winner Efrain Escudero. Meza is 9-0 who is a wrestler with some good submission skills.

Although the rest of the week’s events have not been finalized the series will feature former UFC welterweight champ Dave Menne, Hector Lombard, Alex Andrade and up and coming fighters Yosmany Cabezas.

Nagano, Japan will host Dream 8 on April 5which will start the welterweight grand prix with the first round fight that should be the final. The rematch between Shinya Aoki vs. Hayato “Mach” Sakurai which pits easily two of Japan’s most beloved fighter is going to be epic.

For those who don’t remember Mach was considered to be a top ten welterweight not so long ago will be looking to avenge a decision loss to Aoki back in 2005. The winner will more than likely be the odd on favorite to win the tourney.

The event will also have some non tourney action as featuring Zelg Galesic who was the surprise of last year’s middleweight grand prix and the beloved Ikuhisa "Minowaman" Minowa who is on a bit of back and forth win loss streak looks to win two in a row.

WEC 40 also takes place on April 5 with a card so loaded that the WEC had to put some top ten talent on the undercard. The main card features the best fighter under 155 and P4P top five fighter Miguel Angel Torres as he goes against top ten bantamweight fighter Takeya Mizugaki.

Other main card fights will feature top talents in Rafael Assuncao, Shane Roller and a bout between Joseph Benavidez and Jeff Curran which will jump the winner into title contention behind Brian Bowles. The undercard has a bout between Manny Tapia and Akitoshi Tamura which should be on the main card and features fighters like Wagnney Fabiano, undefeated Diego Nunes, and American Top Team fighter Rafael Dias.

Finally Strikeforce makes its return with their newly acquired lineup of fighters from Elite XC. The main event will have two guys with big ego’s and even bigger mouths fighting as Nick Diaz takes on Frank Shamrock. The card also features the rematch between Josh Thomson vs. Gilbert Melendez for the Strikeforce lightweight title.

If you’ve never seen their first fight you should be and find it on YouTube because it was a hard fought match between them and I’m hoping for just as good as a fight. The card also has a bout between Benji Radach and Scott Smith which I’m really looking forward to because its due to be a nonstop action packed fight with two guys looking to be a factor in the middleweight division.

All in all, the month of April looks to be great for MMA. All this along with UFN 18 and UFC 97. Thank you MMA gods.

Condit vs. Kampmann: The Break Down

Jaime Moreno — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:06:25 -0400

For the first time in a long time, I’m not going to focus on an entire fight card and solely take a look at a fight that has some serious title contention implications.

Martin Kampmann vs. Carlos Condit is a very intriguing matchup featuring two very solid fighters who are both looking to make some noise in a weight division that is already full of contenders.

Martin Kampmann is new to the welterweight division, but is absolutely no new comer when it comes to the UFC.

Kampmann was a rising star in the middleweight division, early in his UFC career till a fight with Nate Marquardt that made him look like a child and not a rising star.

The fight all but forced him to move down to welterweight and he had an impressive showing at 170 vs. Alexandre Barros at UFC 93.

The Danish fighter is a very good standup fighter who has 50 percent of his wins by way of TKO, and with his training at Xtreme Couture has developed a good ground game.

His cut to 170 didn’t affected him; he probably should have been at this weight class from the very beginning.

Carlos Condit is considered a top ten welterweight, and was the WEC welterweight champion, prior to the WEC doing away with the division. He is a very good ground fighter with nearly 60 percent of his wins come way of submission.

He is very versed on the ground with submissions via kimura, arm bar, RNC, you name it, and more than likely he has finished an opponent with it. He is now training at ACS with current WEC lightweight champ Jamie Varner and TUF winners CB Dollaway and Ryan Bader, so his ground game will only improve.

With his ground game set firm, his standup has been ever developing and with nine of his 22 wins coming by TKO.

Both men are on the cusp of the top tier of the 170-pound class so who will become the next great thing in the division.

Stand up

The advantage goes to the former kick boxer turned MMA fighter, and that person is Martin Kampmann. He has a higher win percentage standing up and his all around skills are just more developed.

He should be able to use his reach to his advantage and should find a home to leg kicks. That’s not to say that Condit couldn’t win the standup war, I just feels like Kampmann would be more likely to stop the fight here rather than Condit.

The big thing that Condit will use his stand up for is to set up the takedown. He uses his jab very effectively and I see him doing the same in this fight.

Condit does have power and loves to use leg kicks to soften his opponents. With all that said Kampmann must win this area to win the fight.

Ground Game

Kampmann will have a disadvantage in this aspect of the fight however it doesn’t mean that he has no skills in this department.

Xtreme Couture is a wrestling hot bed with great MMA wrestlers like Gray Maynard, Jay Hieron, Tyson Griffin and others.

His Jiu Jitsu is underrated, and as we saw in his fight with Drew McFedries he is more than just a striker. Carlos Condit is without a doubt more than capable on the ground than Kampmann.

Like I stated before, 13 of his 22 wins have come by way of submission. Condit has a serious advantage here, and my guess is that he will get the fight to the ground ASAP.

He has some great takedowns and slams and I see him working hard at a double leg, lifting Kampmann and introducing Kampmann’s back to the mat.

The Extras

Carlos Condit has been in tough welterweight fights in the WEC as a champion so he understands the pressure as a Main Event fighter, where Kampmann hasn’t.

Condit has also faced much tougher opponents in his career and should be able to control the big fight nerves.

I think that Kampmann’s camp at Xtreme Couture will give him the ability to spare and train with better fighters where Condit is one of the top fighters at ACS with really a bunch of up and coming fighters to train with.

By the way this isn’t a knock on ACS it’s just that they are not as elite a camp as Xtreme Couture.

I see this fight going something like this. Kampmann will use his striking to keep the fight standing early in the hopes to not allow Condit to shoot in for a takedown. I think that Kampmann will keep it standing enough to win the first round.

Round two will start with Condit getting the clinch and finally getting the fight to the ground where he will work to side control then to the mount.

It’s at this point where Kampmann will turn to his belly, allowing Condit to get his hooks in and work for the RNC getting it early in the second.

The winner and now number two contender in the welterweight division is Carlos Condit via RNC in the second.

My Favorite MMA Pics

Jaime Moreno — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:48:21 -0400

I got to admit i'm not being original here, since I'm taking a page from Stoker. However I wanted to show the writers and fans of b/r something to look at and enjoy. It took me some time to find these pics so sit back, lift your feet and feel free to get a drink while you watch. So here are some of my personal favorite MMA pics.

Begin Slideshow

UFC 96: Preview and Prediction

Jaime Moreno — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:41:52 -0500

Let me start by saying it feels good to be doing one of these again. I didn't do one for the last two events because everyone did one for Penn vs. GSP and I didn't care to do one for the last event. There has been some new guys doing this sort of write-up and I got to say I’m not a fan of them.

I’m not calling anyone out, but asking for more research when doing thisisn't to much to ask. Brian Oswald just did a piece on how we as fans should demand better article so that we can get some love on B/R and writing two sentences about a fight isn’t how we get to that point.

Once again this not me calling anyone out, just challenging writers to step up their game and write more insightful pieces. With that said on to the card.

PRELIMINARY CARD

Ryan Madigan vs. Tamdan McCrory—who is Ryan Madigan? Anyone? Well I for one have never heard of him and what I can find out about him is that his is 5-0 and has fought guys with a combined total of 16-18 record, so he has fought a bunch of no one.

I give him some credit in that he has all five of his wins by way of TKO or Submission, and has never seen the third round. Tamdan McCrory on the other hand is a someone. The Barn Cat is 10-2 with wins over UFC vets Luke Cummo and Pete Spratt.

He is very tall with some good striking skill and a developing ground game. Tamdan will have a reach advantage from hell and I’ll assume he will use it, or at least he should.

My guess here is that Tamdan will use the reach advantage till the fight gets to the ground and Tamdan will overwhelm an inexperienced Madigan resulting in a first round RNC. Tamdan McCrory via first round RNC.

Tim Boetsch vs. Jason Brilz—in his second go around Jason Brilz moves up in competition facing Tim Boetsch. Brilz is a wrestler with nine of his 16 MMA victories coming by submission.

Tim Boetsch is a strong puncher and also has wrestling skills but from what I can find on Brilz is seems like his ground game is a bit more advanced than Boetsch.

Experience goes the way of Boetsch so look for this fight to dependent on if Boetsch can keep it standing, if he does then good night Mr. Brilz. Tim Boetsch via TKO late in the first.

Shane Nelson vs. Aaron Riley—TUF alum Shane Nelson takes on a crafty vet in Aaron Riley which should be a nice fight between two young fighters. The good news for Nelson is that he is young and has a solid ground game; the bad news is that he is facing a better striker and a well rounded fighter in Aaron Riley. Look at Riley’s record and you see a who's-who list of talented fighter.

Experience will be the key to this fight, and Nelson's only way to win is to pull something out of his ass, which I don’t see happening. Aaron Riley via Decision.

Jason Day vs. Kendall Grove—in Grove’s last fight he got back to winning way by beating Evan Tanner (RIP). In that fight he showed the striking skills that had many feeling that the TUF winner could be a force in the middleweight division.

He faces Jason Day, who, in his last outing, looked like a fish out of water. Day has had some notable wins against guys like Jonathan Goulet, David Loiseau and Alan Belcher, but for me the question is which Jason Day will show up.

Grove will have a damn tremendous reach advantage and normally uses it. Day is going to have to find a way around Kendall’s long arms and leg to hope to land anything effective.

That said if it goes to the ground I feel that Kendall has a slight advantage. I’m not a huge Kendall Grove fan, but I think someone like Day should fall prey to him. Kendall Grove via TKO in the second.

Mike Patt vs. Brandon Vera—The UFC really wanted to have Vera on the winning ways in order to use his like able personality to market to the growing Philippino fan base. But Vera decided to hold out for a year and since then has gone 1-3. I still think the UFC wants him to get back to his old ways and poor Mike Patt is just the guy to fill in to that spot.

Patt does have 12 wins with 9 coming by way of submission so if this fight were to go to the ground he could give Vera trouble. That is until we remember that Vera is good there as well.

There is little that would make me feel that Patt was nothing more than a face for Vera to punch. Brandon Vera via KTFO in the first.

MAIN CARD

Gray Maynard vs. Jim Miller—I hate this match-up because one of my new favorite fighters in Jim Miller has a hard fight ahead of him. Miller is a good striker and an even better ground fighter with some good submissions.

Of his 13 wins, nine have come by submission and he is going to have to use every ounce of submission skill to try and stop the Bully. Gray Maynard is a great and I mean great wrestler with some developing standup skills.

He is 6-0 with one NC, but his down fall is that he is a great boring fighter. Four of his six wins are by decision and his last fight against Rich Clementi was slow with Maynard really doing nothing more than winning by lay 'n' pray.

Miller needs to try for submissions early and often to finish the fight or to at least make Maynard worried about it to prevent him from instantly going for the takedown. My thinking is that if Nate Diaz could submit Gray Maynard in TUF then so can Miller. Jim Miller via arm-bar early in the second.

Matt Brown vs. Pete Sell—personally I think that this fight should have been on the undercard, but I’m not the heads of the UFC. In any case this is going to be a stand-up war, with little to no ground fighting.

Both guys like to bang and both do it well. Sell is very much like Jorge Gurgel in that if he would just take the fight to the ground he should have a huge advantage. He is a BJJ black belt under Matt Serra and Serra is said to be a hard guy to get a black belt under. But like Gurgel, he’d rather entertain the fans then get a win.

I think Sell has better stand-up but leaves himself way to open to ever thing that any decent striker can’t land a shot on him, and I question his chin. So with that in mind I’d be a fool not to think that Brown could take this one. Matt Brown via Decision.

Matt Hamill vs. Mark Munoz—This is going to be a great fight and I’m super glad that the UFC made this happen. We all know Hamill’s story and most fans like him for his sheer determination.

He is a above-average wrestler and has a good one-two combo that sets up the takedown. Mark Munoz is a real mirror image of Hamill with maybe less standup.

He is a strong wrestler and is still early into his career which I feel that in this fight will be his downfall. For the record it bums me out that Munoz’s first fight in the UFC will be a loss to a better fighter in Matt Hamill.

If only the UFC would let him take baby steps and not leaps but what can you do. Matt Hamill via TKO in the first.

Shane Carwin vs. Gabriel Gonzaga—For some reason everyone is jumping off the Gonzaga wagon and jumping onto Carwin’s. I for one am a Gabriel Gonzaga fan and think that he is fixing his problems he had against Werdum and Couture.

In the Couture fight he looked nervous and really overwhelmed by the moment, in the Werdum fight I thought he was winning the fight with some sickeningly good leg kicks till Werdum landed the knee that ended the fight.

I still think Gonzaga is one of the only fighters who could match with any heavyweight in power and strength.

Carwin is a young and future super star in the division. He has never been in the second round, but I think that has more to do with his lack of opponents.

He is a top-notch wrestler and has big time power in his punches. So here is how I see this fight going. Gonzaga will take the center of the cage and land some leg kick early and often.

He is going to use his jab to keep the shorter fighter away and will get the takedown and rain elbows on Carwin similar to the elbow he landed on Cro Cop, then rinse lather and repeat.

The only difference in this fight than in the Cro Cop fight is that I feel that Carwin will have the since enough to try and move around to avoid getting punched in the face leaving him open to a RNC.

Now do me a favor and if you’re going to argue my opinion then say something more intelligent than Carwin is a beast. He hasn’t fought a guy like Gonzaga and the experience factor will play to big of a role. Gabriel Gonzaga via RNC in the Second.

Quinton Jackson vs. Keith Jardine—so easy answer to this fight would be Rampage via KTFO in one minute, but I don’t think that is going to happen. Now that doesn’t mean that I don’t think that Rampage has a more then 75 percent chance at winning, I’m just giving Keith Jardine a bit more credit.

Rampage could easily look past Jardine to a fight against Rashad, thus allowing Jardine to fight his fight and pick Rampage apart.

The fact is however that Rampage does hit harder and is more athletic than Jardine, but Jardine’s leg kicks are so damn good. The thing is Jardine needs to keep his distance and get this fight into the second in order to have a chance at winning.

My gut tells me that this fight will not end suddenly in the first and Rampage will have to earn this victory. Or maybe I just hope that Rampage wins but has enough damage to allow Machida to fight Rashad so he can win the belt.

Who knows, but back to this fight; I’m just hoping for a good fight. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson via Decision.

Fight of the night will go to Matt Brown vs Pete Sell. KO of the night goes to Brandon Vera. Submission of the night goes to Jim Miller.

Joe Lauzon Out for a Year

Jaime Moreno — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:23:57 -0500

Story

According to fiveouncesofpain.com Joe Lauzon will be out 12-15 months with ACL surgery. The article gave information about the surgery for the fighters blog at JoeLauzon.com. According to the blog Joe has had some trouble with the knee in the past, but nothing like this.

“I have had a history of bad luck with my knees. I have already had two knee surgeries...meniscectomies on both knees. Those surgeries were relatively simple because they just go in arthroscopically and shave down the meniscus. There is no stitching and no repairing done."

“The surgery scheduled for next week will not be so simple. Unlike the last two times, I will need my meniscus repaired. Instead of just shaving that little piece out, they will be stitching it up and getting it to sit back in place.”

With Joe likely out for that time the question becomes what will happen with when gets back to fighting shape and will the surgery slow down his progress within the division.

In my opinion, Joe Lauzon is within the top 10 of the UFC's lightweight division, so this type of layoff could put him on the outside looking in of the elite of the division.

Good luck Joe and a speedy recovery

The Ever Improving Middleweight Division

Jaime Moreno — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 02:59:29 -0500

So it’s been like a month or so since I’ve written anything on the site and for all my trusty fans I say I’m sorry. It’s been busy at the Casa de Moreno and school has been handing me my ass as of late.

With that said I bring to you a thought process of mine. It’s been said as recently as last month that the middleweight division is weak. To be honest I’ve thought that myself, but here lately certain fighters have been changing that thought process.

At UFC 95 Nate Marquardt and Damien Maia had some convincing wins to let the MMA world know that they were in line for a title shot. However they are not the only ones making this claim. So with that in mind here is a short list that makes me feel very good about the up and coming year that is the middleweight division.

Yushin Okami—Most people feel that Okami doesn’t deserve a shot at the title, but I for one disagree. If we look at his record it shows a UFC record of 7-1 in his last eight fights. The only fighter in the middleweight division to have as many wins in that same time frame is Anderson Silva.

In any other division he would have had a shot by the fifth win let alone after seven with his only loss being to then No. 2 middleweight fighter in the world Rich Franklin. I know his win to Anderson was by DQ and I get that many think he is boring, and I’m not going to argue that point.

Boring or not he deserves his shot whether or not we think we know what is going to happen to him if and when he fights Anderson.

Nate Marquardt—Since his loss to Anderson Silva he has fought the top fighters in the middleweight division. He submitted Jeremy Horn, KO’ed Martin Kampmann in the first round forcing Kampmann to drop a weight class, and demolished Wilson Gouveia. His lone loss was to Thales Leites which he had two points taken from him and one judge still thought he won.

In his recent win over Gouveia, Marquardt stated that he was a different fighter then the first time he faced Anderson and he is right. His stand-up is much improved and he is one of the best ground and pound fighters at 185. Honestly I think he can give Anderson a good run in a rematch and has to be considered the next in line.

Damien Maia—Maia is without a doubt the best jiu-jitsu fighter in the middleweight division and is considered the best jiu-jitsu fighter to adapt BJJ to MMA. He is 5-0 in the UFC and 10-0 overall with all but two of those wins coming by way of submissions.

His last three fights, in particular the fights with Jason MacDonald and Chael Sonnen, has made many people turn their heads and consider him as another soon to be title contender.

A fight with Anderson and Maia would be very interesting because I for one think that Maia can get the fight to the ground and if there is somewhere many MMA question Anderson’s ability it’s on the ground. Anderson may be a black belt under Big Nog, but Maia is a totally different animal.

Dan Henderson—Since returning to the UFC Henderson has had to face the toughest fight schedule ever. Fight number one was against Rampage for the 205 title, fight number two was against Anderson for the 185 belt, fight number three was a fight against a tough young fighter in Rousimar Palhares, fight number four against the former 185 king and top ten fighter in Rich Franklin.

Easy breezy right? Wrong.

He now gets the fight against Michael Bisping who the UFC is grooming to be the next middleweight king. With a win Henderson could put himself back in the running for title contender to be.

Remember that before standing and trading with Anderson in their title fight, Henderson controlled Silva for over two and a half minutes of the first round easily winning the only round Anderson has loss while in the UFC. Henderson is still dangerous at this weight class and still hungry to prove he belongs in title contention.

Michael Bisping—As I stated earlier Bisping has a fight with a legend in Dan Henderson and if he wins the UFC will take their international poster boy straight to the top. With that said it isn’t without merit that the UFC is bringing him along to be the heir to the middleweight empire.

He is 7-1 in the UFC with his only loss being to 205 champ Rashad Evans. As a middleweight he is a perfect 3-0, albeit against less then top level fighter, but 3-0 nonetheless. He is a solid ground fighter and has drastically improved his stand-up.

He now trains with some top notch fighters in Quentin Jackson, and Cheick Kongo at the Wolfslair in London. The UFC could really use an English champion to boast the European market even more and trust me when I say that a win over Henderson would have him jump over all the other fighters in his way.

Yoshihiro Akiyama—For those of you who don’t know this name you should go quickly to YouTube, type in his name and watch for your very eyes how good this Korean fighter is.

The former k-1 Hero’s and Dream fighter is 12-1 overall with some unorthodox submission and TKO wins. With wins over notable fighters like Melvin Manhoef and Denis Kang the judo fighter brings instant Asian fans and a top 15 ranking to a US crowd who loves a fighter who can finish.

Seriously he is the only fighter, at least to my knowledge, to end a fight with an Ezekiel choke not once but twice and watch his fight with Katsu Nagata and his fabulous spinning back kick KO. He is legit and I can’t watch to see what he brings to the UFC’s ever deepening middleweight division.

So to recap the middleweight division isn’t as horrible as we all once thought. Could 2009 be the year of the 185 pound fighter.

Machida vs. Silva: The Break Down

Jaime Moreno — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:40:04 -0500

As with all the other break downs I do, I will try my best to stay as objectionable as possible which is saying something, because one of these two fighters happens to be a favorite of mine (by the way it’s Machida). I’ll be using my standard system by looking at the Stand-up game, the Ground game and the Intangibles. This fight will be an important fight in regards to the future of the Light Heavyweight Division, so with that in mind let the breakdown of the Battle of the Brazilians begin.

The Stand-up Game

To start with both men have very solid, yet very different standup games. Thiago Silva has great Muay Thai skills and is very powerful with his punches. He has leg kick for days and his punches come at you very fast and with some serious power. In the fight with Tomasz Drwal he landed punch after punch eventually dropping him to a bloody, beaten pulp.

The only question with Silva is whether or not he can take a punch. He was dropped by Antonio Mendes early in the first in his last fight, however the kick that Mendes landed was a beautiful head kick, so that could just be the result of well timed kick.

If you go back and look at previous fight, Silva shows limited head movement and at times he stands very straight while punching leaving his chin very exposed. This is the main concern I have for him in the standup.

Lyoto Machida also has some very sound standup. His Karate background allows him to move in and out very quickly, utilizing his punches and kicks better than most men at 205. He has leg kicks that are very accurate, and he uses them as jabs at times to set up other moves. If you go back to look at the Sam Hoger fight you can see how he loves the leg kick to the body.

By the end of that fight Sam was covering up his right side more than his face. For me his punches are what are going to determine how the fight will go. He has easily one of the best counter lefts in the MMA world. That is the punch that dropped Sokoudjou which ultimately lead to the submission. To add to that Machida has great head movement and very good lateral movement.

Both men have great Stand-up and the only real reason I would give the nod to Machida is because of his ability to not get hit. I’ve seen too much video on Silva to know how little he moves his head, so if anyone is going to get hit its Silva.

The Ground Game

Lyoto Machida is a student of Sumo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and currently trains with one of the best ground fighters in the game in Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria. He is also very hard to get to the ground. Watch any of his fights and you see fighter after fighter have no luck in taking the fight to the ground.

As for submissions he only has two win by submission and first was in 2004 and the submission win against Soko which took forever for him to sink in. So for me his greatest attribute is his Sumo training which gives him outstanding balance and helps prevent being taken down.

Thiago Silva is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and has one of the best top games in the division. Like Machida he doesn’t have a ton of submission victories, however he uses his ability to keep people from sweeping him, then rains down some out of this world ground and pound.

Now for me the ground game is going to be the factor of the fight. Without question Thiago Silva has the advantage here. I firmly believe that no one at 205 has better top position than Thiago Silva, and if he were to wrestle with anyone at the weight class he would get the top position and win every time.

The question will be can Thiago get it there and I think that will be a big issue. That said Thiago still is a better BJJ competitor and wins the Ground Game.

Intangibles

The biggest intangible is the experience factor. Lyoto Machida has been in with some great fighters at 205. He has wins over Rich Franklin, BJ Penn, Kaz Nakamura, Sokoudjou, and Tito Ortiz. He trains with former and current UFC champion in Anderson Silva, Big Nog, and Vitor Belfort. He just has more and better people to get advice from and train with.

Yes Silva trains at American Top Team, but you just can’t substitute that kind of experience. I’m sure Thiago has been game planning his butt off for Machida, but you are never going to find a guy with his skill set, and unfortunately for Thiago, Machida can find more than one fighter who can do what he can do.

Finally this may sound dumb but I feel that this is a fight that Machida has to have more than Thiago. Thiago is very young and even with a loss he will still be very relevant in the division for years to come. I think that Machida knows that he has to win this fight in order to stay at the top of the ladder at 205.

Prediction

I think that the win comes easier for Machida then for Thiago Silva. Silva will have to get this fight to the ground if he wants to win, and Machida can win by TKO or point his way to a victory. With that said I think that Silva will jump out early and be too aggressive and find himself making out with Machida’s counter left. Then Machida will be able to pound on Thiago till the ref stops it. Lyoto Machida wins via TKO late in the first.

Fedor Emelianenko vs Andrei Arlovski: The Break Down

Jaime Moreno — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:13:21 -0500

I decided not to do a full breakdown for "Affliction 2: Crap Card", so instead I’m going to focus my energy on the one match-up that has people talking. I’m doing this because I feel people on this site and others are judging the fight purely on favoritism and not on what are legitimate arguments.If you’re going to write something try to be objective, not bias.

I’m going to make my pick for this fight based on three criteria: Overall stand-up abilities, Overall ground abilities, and other certain intangibles. Each criterion will be broken up in to several key points, For example: Overall Standup can be broken down to better chin, better hands, better kicks and so on.

With that said let the breakdown begin.

Overall Stand-up

Many people have argued that this is an easy win in the stand-up game for Arlovski. However, before we just give it to him let’s look at the record books. Arlovski is 14-5 with 10 TKO or KO victories. All of those TKO or KO wins have been by punches, and let all be honest here, for a Heavyweight it’s understandable why Andrei left the UFC and probably won’t be signing with them anytime soon.

His hands are legitimate boxing level, even prior to training with Freddie Roach. He is very technical with his punches and for that matter his leg kicks. One of the best examples of his much improved leg kicking ability was the fight versus Fabrico Werdum. Werdum’s inside left leg was damn near raw from the repeated kicks by Arlovski.

Fedor on the other hand has only has five wins via TKO of his 28 total victories. But if you look deeper into his fights one can see that instead of finishing fights via punches he uses his punching power to stun his opponents and get the fight to the ground for submissions. The Fujita fight is a great example of this.

Midway into the first round, Fedor used a perfect left hook to get Fujita wobbly and take him to the ground to finish via RNC. He does this by choice and it works for him. His stand-up, while at times sloppy, is very effective. You cannot deny his overwhelming brute power.

The part of the stand-up game that is often over looked is the ability for a fighter to take a punch. Arlovski has five losses in his career and only one of those losses was by a decision; the other four were by TKO or KO. Now he was hit by some heavy hitters in those losses, like Pedro Rizzo and Tim Sylvia, but he has also lost by TKO to the not so heavy handed Ricco Rodriguez.

Fedor, on the other hand, has never lost via TKO. For that matter, I can only remember a handful of times that he has ever been hurt. Fedor is known for his hard head; a great example was the suplex he took by Randleman where the entire MMA world thought they saw the first death in MMA.

To recap: Arlovski has an overwhelming striking advantage over Fedor. His hands are faster, and more technically sound, but Fedor can take a punch better then Arlovski. Arlovski should have a reach advantage in this fight and really needs to use it to keep Fedor at bay. If not Fedor will use his power to get it to the ground. Arlovski win the stand-up portion of this competition.

Overall Ground Game

Again this round could and should go to Fedor, but I want to take a look at the record here as well. Of Fedor’s wins over 50% have been by submission, compared to only 23% for Arlovski.

Fedor is a well decorated Sambo fighter having one of the highest rankings a Sambo fighter can have as a “Master of Sport.” His game is at the top of the Heavyweight ladder and more impressive than most BJJ black belts, minus maybe Big Nog. On the submission front, Fedor has it no question.

Arlovski is no joke when it comes to his Sambo experience. He has also achieved Master of Sport in Sambo by winning a Silver medal at the World Sambo Cup in 1999. The main difference when it comes to his submission game is that he uses his grappling skills to keep the fight standing.

However, before anyone thinks that he will have the overwhelming ability to keep it stand consider this. In his last fight versus Roy Nelson, Nelson was able to get Arlovski to the ground and at one time had dominate side control position on Arlovski, until the ref stood them up. If Roy Nelson can get Andrei down then so should Fedor.

To recap: Fedor has a much more dominate submission game the Andrei. However, Andrei will use his game to try and keep the fight standing. Fedor wins this portion of the competition.

The Intangibles

Intangible No. 1: Andrei Arlovski is currently working with one of the best boxing trainers of all time and that cannot be overlooked. Freddie Roach can game plan with the best of them and can probably study and break down film better than any other person in the Combat sport game; people should not over look this.

Freddie isn’t a BJJ coach but he doesn’t have to be, because his job is to make Arlovski better at his standup and trust me it will show come Saturday.

Intangible number two: Fedor has more experience and has more fights against better opponents. The list includes Cro Cop, Nogueria, Lindland, Coleman, Herring, and on and on. Arlovski just doesn’t have that type of list, and has at times looked tentative or out of place when he has been in with the top level heavyweights.

In the second fight with Sylvia he jumped in way to fast when he thought Tim was hurt and ate an uppercut for his troubles. When he fought Werdum he never tried to use his striking advantage to end the fight, deciding to get the decision.

Intangible number three: Could Arlovski be looking ahead to a promising boxing? Money is a funny thing and if he goes into boxing the money is much, much superior then in MMA. The only worry I have about his new found love with Freddie Roach is that they have a future planned in boxing and that can’t be good for the present.

Prediction

So now we move to the prediction part of the article and my thought is this: This fight will be an epic fight no matter how you look at it. I firmly believe that it will go into the later rounds before we see a winner. The outcome of this fight will be who can use their game plan better and I see Fedor being able to do that.

I see it close at first with Arlovski keeping Fedor away with his reach advantage. Then late in round three Fedor getting top position and staying there until he sinks in a submission.

The winner will be Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko via arm bar in the third round.

Side note: this will be Affliction’s last event in the US but not ever.

Jorge Santiago: A Middleweight You Should Know

Jaime Moreno — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 01:37:06 -0500

Lately I’ve noticed that a lot o people have absolutely no idea the names of fighters who are not in the UFC. You say names like Aoki, Hansen, Overeem, and Misaki and people think that for some reason those fighters aren’t worth their time.

One such fighter who should be on the minds of MMA fans is Jorge Santiago.

If the name sounds familiar it’s because he had a short-lived career in the UFC. Jorge won his first fight but went on to lose to Chris Leben and Alan Belcher. Although not successful inside the octagon, Santiago has since grown into one of MMA's a top 10 Middleweight fighters.

A product of the famed American Top Team in Florida, Santiago is on a nine-fight win streak and recently won the Sengoku Middleweight title by beating the “Grabaka Hitman” Kazuo Misaki, who at the time was considered a top 10 fighter himself.

The native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil nearly left the fight game to be a teacher at the famed camp after some tough fights in the UFC. In a recent interview on TAGG Radio he stated that after the loss to Alan Belcher on UFC Fight Night 7 in 2006 he was at a real crossroads.

“I was like, 'you know what, I'm going to take this as the most serious thing ever.' I think that was what gave me more focus on the job."

In this current form, Santiago has ended all nine of his fights by either TKO or submission. At the end of 2007 Jorge won a one-day four-man middleweight tournament, winning both by KO. The first came 24 seconds into the fight by KO’ing Sean Salmon with a flying knee. The second was a knee to the body to KO Trevor Prangley.

The year 2008 was a true breakout year for him as he won the Sengoku middleweight tournament. Winning the tournament led to a huge matchup versus Misaki, and during the aforementioned interview Santiago stated that that fight was his toughest ever.

"The guy is so tough. We couldn't hold him in the first or second round.”

The fight was not going Santiago’s way till the submission which left Misaki unconscious and Santiago the victor with only 94 seconds left in the fight.

With 2009 kicked off with such a great start, one wonders what could be next for Santiago.

As he puts it, "In my mind now, it's just trying to get to the next step—and from there try and look for the other top-10 guys. (I want to) get them all and fight the hard fighters to get my name."

It isn’t without cause for him to have a second go-around in the UFC.

Until then, there are a lot of possible matchups out there for him. Within Strikeforce we could see a possible match against Frank Trigg, or even the middleweight champion Cung-Le.

Regardless, Jorge Santiago is a force in the Middleweight division and a name that we all should look out for in the future.

UFC 93: Predictions of the Fight Card

Jaime Moreno — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 02:11:40 -0500

First I hate Getty. Their images suck something big. Now on to the predictions

For some reason Spike is labeling the fight card that MMA fans have been waiting for, and the truth is outside of the co-main events it’s an ok card. Personally I don’t even know if I’m getting this card, but who knows.

With all that said on January, 17 the UFC is back in Ireland and that is a good thing. If there is one country in the world who loves them some fighting it Ireland. By the way I’ve always wanted to be known as “Irish” Jaime Moreno. And on to the prelims.

Tom Egan vs. John Hathaway—so I know very little about these two guys except that I know that John Hathaway is from England, he is undefeated, and is a Cage Rage vet. I got nothing on Egan so with that in mind I’m flipping a coin...So Hathaway wins, and I’ll go with a Decision win.

Tomasz Drwal vs. Ivan Serati—Serati is making his UFC debut against Drwal who only fight in the UFC was a TKO loss to Thiago Silva. Serati is also a Cage Rage veteran who from what I have heard, has a decent chin and good punching power. Before the loss to Silva, Tomasz hadn’t loss since 2004 and is a solid fighter. Experience is going to be big in this one and my guess is that Drwal will be winning this one. Tomasz Drwal via TKO in the second.

Dennis Siver vs. Nate Mohr—Siver has had some serious bad luck in the UFC being 1-4. If he wants to fight in the UFC he desperately needs a win but Nate Mohr is a push over. Mohr’s last fight was over a year ago and for those of you who don’t remember, Manny Gamburyan tore up his knee with a nasty leg lock. Honestly Mohr should take this fight with just overall better skills. Nate Mohr via TKO in the first.

Antonio Mendes vs. Eric Schafer—this one is actually a good match-up between two guys who have futures in the sport. Eric Schafer is a BJJ fighter who now trains under Duke Roufus so I have to assume that his standup has gotten much better. Before the loss to Thiago Silva, Mendes had an 11 fight winning streak, and showed in that fight that he has some tremendous kicks.

The fight that I am drawing my conclusion on is a Schafer’s last fight against Houston Alexander. Schafer was able to avoid Houston’s attack and take it to the ground and finish him in the first. Now Mendes surely has a ton more ability on the ground then Houston Alexander, but I think the results will be the same. Eric Schafer via RNC in the second.

Alexandre Barros vs. Martin Kampmann—Kampmann is making his welterweight debut and honestly it’s about time. He was never a big middleweight and I’ve felt for some time that he should be in with the top of the welterweight division, but he has no easy task with Barros. Alexandre Barros has been around for some time in Brazil and trains with a very good Gracie Barra Combat Team, home of Renato Sobral.

From what I’ve seen of Barros he is a big 170 pounder with some very good standup skills. Both men are well versed on the ground with Barros having an advantage so look for Barros to try and take it to the ground. If Kampmann can keep it standing then, he should have success having better overall standup skills. Although I like Kampmann this is a bad start at this weight class and could be beat by a more experienced Barros. Alexandre Barros via Decision.

MAIN CARD

Marcus Davis vs. Chris Lytle—I’m really disappoint at this fight because I’m a believer in that Davis should be fighting top level guys in the welterweight division. Chris Lytle is a gatekeeper who has power in his punches but has very little gas in the tank after the first round. Davis on the other hand is a better boxer, and way better cardio then Lytle ever will.

I wish Joe Silva will put Davis in with someone like Koscheck or Karo next time. This is the easiest to call because Lytle only has a small punchers chance. Marcus Davis via TKO in the second.

Jeremy Horn vs. Rousimar Palhares—Jeremy Horn is coming into this fight a shell of his former self and find himself in with a guy who is much stronger and better versed on the ground. Palhares is a legit BJJ player and will likely be wanting to take this to the ground asap.

For Horn to have any luck he needs to use his wrestling to sprawl and brawl and hope to land enough shots to win by points. Horn however isn’t Dan Henderson and I think Palhares will be able to use his Jiu-Jitsu to get a submission. Rousimar Palhares via Armbar in the first. Submission of the night

Alan Belcher vs. Denis Kang—Denis Kang finally makes his UFC debut and I am so stoked for it. He is a top level middleweight and should have been here a lot sooner. I know that many people believe that his best days are behind him but the last year and then some have been tough on him. A divorce and a early exit in the Dream middleweight GP made people turn away from him but not me.

Alan Belcher is a good test for him in the UFC to get his timing back and show off some of his skills. With a win here look for Kang to be involved in some good matchups in 2009, maybe with someone like Leben or Cote. Regardless I see him being a force in the middleweight division. Denis Kang via RNC in the first.

Mark Coleman vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua—I have no idea why this fight is taking place but at least we get to see the return of Shogun. Coleman is making his return to the Octagon and has no easy task with a healthy Shogun Rua who doesn’t need any motivation to show the skills that had many ranking him as the top 205er in the world some two years ago.

In order for Shogun to have a chance at the belt he not only needs to win, but destroy Coleman which I feel he will. Look for Coleman to try and make this a ground war and here’s hoping that Shogun stuffs Coleman’s takedowns and mashes his face in. Can you tell that I’m not a fan of Mark “the steroid induced Hammer” Coleman. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua via face smashing in the second. KO of the night.

Rich “Ace” Franklin vs. Dan Henderson—many think that this fight will put Franklin in the mix at 205 but in the words of Lee Corso “not so fast my friend.” This fight is going to be very competitive and maybe the fight of the night. Henderson is very good on the ground, who was very aggressive against Anderson Silva and completely controlled him for most of the first round, something Rich was never even close to doing. Rich on the other hand has a decisive advantage in the standup with very technical boxing and kickboxing.

That’s not to say that Henderson can’t KTFO of people, just ask Wandy, it’s just that rich has very quick hands and has some really good leg kicks. For Franklin to win he has to keep his distance and use his very good jab, straight left combo working all night and hope to land something flush enough to hurt Henderson.

For Henderson to win he has to use his right hand to get in and force the fight to the ground where he can use his ground and pound to win. My guess is that Henderson will be able to enforce his will over Franklin. Dan Henderson via decision.

UFC 92: Ultimate 2008 Predictions

Jaime Moreno — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 17:22:25 -0500

Here now are my predictions on this weekend’s end of the year MMA spectacular UFC 92 Ultimate 2008.

Like most of you, I’m excited at what Joe Silva and the rest of the UFC hire-ups were able to put together—although I still think that the main card should have Okami on it and not CB. But I digress. And now for the under-card:

Antoni Hardonk vs. Mike Wessel

What I know about Mike Wessel is very little. He trains with TUF cast member Roli Delgado at Westside Fight Team. He is 6-0 with three of his wins coming by TKO.

Hardonk has some sick stand-up with some very powerful leg kicks. All of Hardonk’s wins in the UFC have been by TKO or KO so my guess here is that this will end early because I think it will stay standing. So I’ll say Hardonk via TKO in the first.

Pat Barry vs. Dan Evensen

Barry is a member Duke Roufus’s fight team that was some serious—and I mean serious—striking. He has never been out of the first round as a MMA fighter, with three wins by way of TKO or KO.

Evensen did show very much against Cheick Kongo in his debut and I don’t we will see anything more in this fight, except his ability to be a punching bag. Evensen is going to be wishing he stuck with the hammer throw after this fight.

Pat Barry will win his debut via any type of leg kick he damn well pleases. Seriously—look out for Barry in the future.

Ryo Chonan vs. Brad Blackburn

The IFL veteran Brad Blackburn makes his second stop in the UFC and has a real step-up in competition in Ryo Chonan.

The outcome will depend on which Chonan shows up. He hasn’t look like the man who was a great in Japan, but if he gets back to his former self then he should win.

That said, my guess is that Blackburn’s career is on the way up and Chonan’s is on the way down—which by the way is sad for me to say. So with that said, it’s with a heavy heart that I’m going to say that Blackburn may be more hungry for this win.

Blackburn via Decision.

Matt Hamill vs. Andy Reese

Matt Hamill had his career on the right direction before his fight versus Rich Franklin, and afterwards a lot of people have been questioning his heart. For this reason alone I think Hamill is going to win this fight with ease.

Andy Reese is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Hamill will the most impressive we have ever seen him and the determined. Poor Andy. Hamill via TKO in the Second.

Yushin Okami vs. Dean Lister

This should be the fifth fight in the Main Card, but no dice. Okami is the most logical choice to face Anderson Silva in the middleweight division with a win. Lister, win or lose, will be in a good spot no matter what.

Okami will have a huge striking advantage with some good ground abilities, while Lister is a top level BJJ player. Okami is going to have to use his wrestling to sprawl and keep it standing in order to win, which I feel like he can.

This is a real step up for Lister in MMA competition and I think we will see if he is ready for the upper-level fighters in the UFC. I personally like both fighters but normally I’m going to go with the better rounded fighter on this one. Okami via Decision.

MAIN CARD

C.B. Dollaway vs. Mike Massenzio

I hate that this fight is given main-card status, because it isn’t worthy. We all know about Dollaway being a very good wrestler and a member of ACS. Mike Massenzio is the wild card in this won, because he has a very good victory against Drew McFedries in his debut.

Massenzio has had better competition and has been around a lot longer than CB, so don’t think for a minute it’s an easy win for CB. CB needs to keep it standing, because he is better versed there than Mike and I feel that Mike is better in the BJJ than CB.

This fight is more of a toss-up than any other fight. If I were forced to bet on it I would bet on a decision and nothing more. For the sake of the prediction piece then I’ll say Dollaway via Decision.

Mustafa Al-Turk vs. Cheick Kongo

A friend of mine swears that Al-Turk is for real. The truth is all I know is he is from England and has a win over Mark Kerr.

With that said, I got to go with what I know. Cheick Kongo kicks hard and punches hard, and he wants a shot at the title. He has to win big in order to put his name back in the line for a title shot.

I don’t think he is going to walk past Al-Turk, but he will win in the end. Kongo via TKO in the Third.

Quinton Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva

So call me crazy, but this is going to be the fight of the night and KO of the night.

Fight of the night because both men will get hurt and recover, and KO of the night, because after that someone will be sleeping for a minute or two.

The epic fights between them in Pride made people watch and this fight will not disappoint them. It will be fierce in the beginning and will stay that way till the end.

The biggest factor in this fight will be the mental aspects. Before Rampage KO’ed Liddell he said that he had his number and I believe that Wandy has Rampage’s as well. Getting manhandled in two previous fights will be in Rampage’s head and would be in any man’s head for that matter.

Wandy looked to be back to his old ways against Jardine and I just feel like it will end as a repeat from the Pride days. I like Rampage but it’s no secret that the mental game is not his strongest suite, and it will show. Wandy via TKO in the Second.

Champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Frank Mir

The TUF coaches will get their chance to show their real ability and not just yell out instructions. The winner will face the now UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar to find out who the real UFC heavyweight champ.

Both have excellent BJJ and both have good stand-up with Nog’s stand-up being a bit more technical. I like Nog’s demeanor and his personality a lot more then Mir’s and the truth is Mir has always kind of come off as an ass; a loss for Mir would not make me sad in the least bit.

Personally, I’d rather see Nog up against Lesnar, so out of sheer spite I’m hoping for Mir to lose. Nogueira via (this may surprise you) third-round TKO.

Champ Forrest Griffin vs. Rashad Evans

I can honestly say that I never thought that these two fighters would be fighting each other for a belt. This fight is compelling and the UFC’s wet dream. Two fighters that they developed into champions from their show is the main event at one of their biggest events to date.

I’m not going too far into the details on this one because I’m working on a piece for this fight alone. So I’ll say that this fight will end on the ground with Forrest getting the Sub of the night. Forrest via RNC in the Second.

UFC 91 Brock Vs Randy: My Answer Will Shock You

Jaime Moreno — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:03:17 -0500

This Saturday, the UFC is back in Las Vegas for UFC 91 which will feature what is deemed the “Biggest Heavyweight Fight in UFC history”. The match-up between Brock Lesnar and Randy Couture is indeed larger than any other fight the UFC has ever had. The truth of the matter is it couldn’t be coming at a better time.

Last month saw one of the most disappointing PPVs in recent history with an uninspired performance by Anderson Silva. The month before that Elite XC had a network show on CBS that was highlighted by the most recognizable MMA fighter today in Kimbo Slice going down to little known Seth Petruzelli.

MMA as a whole needs this fight and the UFC will stand to make a ton of money because of it. Now we all know and love Randy Couture, but to just say he will win without truly analyzing the fight would be dumb, which unfortunately happens in this site and many other MMA sites. So here is my take on this fight.

I think that assuming Randy will win just because of his experience is overrated. The truth is he is 45, has had over a year off, and has never faced someone with the size and strength of Brock. So for arguments sake, let’s take experience away and look at who Randy has had losses to.

For me, looking at the losses is more important so if we look at that, we will see that three of his UFC losses were against lighter fighters. Chuck Liddell has two of those wins against Randy and in those days Chuck was KO’ing everyone, so let’s disregard them, along with a loss to Victor Belfort because that was due to a cut.

The two losses that would give me something to worry about were against two big heavyweights with very solid wrestling pedigrees. Josh Barnett and Ricco Rodriguez beat Randy when Randy was the top of the Heavyweight food chain, and they both beat him convincingly.

Randy was able to take Josh down however he never really controlled him. With the Ricco fight, yes Randy was able to take him down but was never in anyway close to finishing the fight, he mainly laid and prayed him till Ricco reversed things on him and got the submission. Brock’s weight advantage is probably going to be both Barnett and Rodriguez’s weight advantage over Randy combined. This is not a good thing for Randy.

If there is one advantage Randy has over Brock it's in the striking category. Moreover, his dirty boxing, thanks in large part to his great Greco-Roman wrestling background are where I see him softening up Brock. If he can get inside and use his dirty boxing it can lead him to the victory.

That, people, is the only place he can win. Nowhere else. The question is, can he even get in close to use that advantage? For his sake I really hope he can.

So now I will list the categories that will determine the fight:

Striking—This goes to Randy. He has good head movement and has dropped more than his share of fighters. Brock has never been tested standing up, so we don’t know what type of chin he’s got

Submissions—Even really. Randy has submitted two fighters but he isn’t a Jiu-Jitsu mastermind, and we don’t know what kind of fighter he is on his back. Brock has said to be getting better but who knows.

Wrestling—Brock has this one. Yes Randy is world class, but it’s a different animal when the guy you are trying to wrestle outweighs you by over 50 pounds and has just as good of an amateur background.

Stamina—Again Brock on this one, and the reason is his time in the WWE. To travel and be as competitive as those men and women do you’re going to out stamina anyone. This dude is a freak of nature and should not be overlooked

Power—Brock by a landslide on this one. I would venture to say that no one in MMA is as strong as Brock.

So my verdict is this. The only way Randy wins is by stretching the fight to the championship rounds and winning via decision. He will have to use his wrestling to keep it standing and just try his best to punish Brock. Judging this not as a fan of any fighter but as a fan of the sport of MMA I have to be honest and say that I don’t think Randy can keep it standing.

I think that Brock will be able to put Randy on his back and keep him there so long as he wants. Believe me people it kills me to say this. I just think that Randy will be too small and too old to beat Brock. Brock Lesnar wins via Unanimous Decision 50-45.

"The Best Fights Left in 2008"

Jaime Moreno — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:25:53 -0400

Today, in the middle of eating lunch, my friend and I started talking about some of the fights that are yet to come in 2008. Of course Silva vs. Cote came up, as did the Nogueira vs Mir fight, but some other "non-main event" fights started to grab our interest, so I thought I'd give you guys a list of the fights that I think could become classics, and my opinion on them.

Quinton Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva

So for me this is an absolute no-brainer. This is a continuation of their memorable fights in Pride with a slight difference. This time it's in a cage. Rampage is a better fighter then those previous fights, and with a win, either figther will jump into the title shot. I think that this fight will be similar to the Silva-Liddell fight with Silva being the victor once again.

Josh Koscheck vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida

The reason this fight looks good to me is that Josh Koscheck will not like being pushed around which I think Yoshida can do. I feel this fight will be a stand-up battle because they will neutralize each others take downs. Kos will more then likely win by a tough split decision.

Bobby Southworth vs. Renato "Babalu" Sobral (for Light Heavyweight Title)

If ever there was a time that I ever wanted anyone to send someone to the hospital this is that time. Southworth is way too cocky for my liking and I really hope Babalu makes him pay. That and I'd love to see Babalu with a belt. Sobral will win by which ever submission he feels like putting on Southworth.

Eddie Alvarez vs. Nick Diaz (for Lightweight Title)

This looks like an epic battle on paper and I think it will deliver. Alvarez looked unstoppable in Japan and Diaz has been on a role lately. I think that Alvarez will end up winning the stand-up war and become the new lightweight champ

Paulo Filho vs. Chael Sonnen (for Middleweight Title)

I really want to see if Paulo Filho has come back completely. If he is mentally at 100% this could be a long night for Sonnen. If he is not ready then Sonnen will do everything to not get caught. It will be a war, but Filho will win.

Leonard Garcia vs. Jens Pulver

This fight will produce some non stop action from the opening bell to the final bell. The fireworks will make for the fight of the year, and add to Jens's legend and make Garcia the next big star in the WEC. My hope is that Garcia will win to set up a Garcia-Faber fight in 2009, but I won't be surprised if Jens wins. Regardless I'm glad I got Versus.

Thales Leites vs. Goran Reljic

This is your typical Brawler vs Grappler, however both are a lot more skilled to leave it at that. Reljic looks to be as skilled standing as Cro Cop in his first fight, and Leites is an above average BJJ practionar. This fight may steal the show in a couple of weeks.

Keith Jardine vs. Brandon Vera

Both men need, not just a win, but a convincing victory over each other. Jardine needs a good win to keep his name in the title picture and Vera need to just show he is still an important figure in any division.

In addition to these great fights, the main events make the rest of 2008 look very promising.

Evacuation + No Power = No MMA

Jaime Moreno — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:06:37 -0400

So I've been out of the MMA loop for nearly a week and man I've stated to get a bit antsy. Why, you may ask, have I been away from MMA? Well the title tells the story.

Wednesday evening my family and I evacuated from our home in Angleton, TX due to a massive hurricane named Ike. What followed was the longest week of my life.

When we got to our evac. place our friends didn't have the Internet, and by the next day we were out of power. We were out of power for the next two nights all the while my kids had a stomach virus and water leaked into the kitchen of our friends house.

On Saturday night my wife and I decided that we had enough of the leaky roof and no power, and we went to Austin were again our friends had no Internet.

So from Wednesday till today I had no way to know what was going on with my favorite sport. Now just in case you were wondering my house was fine and so are the houses of all of my family, but for awhile there I feared that i would never get any information on MMA.

What a scary life that would be.

Juan Diaz: Who Will He Fight Next?

Jaime Moreno — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 08:08:31 -0400

Last Night on HBO, Juan Diaz fought a spectacular fight against Michael Katsidis, winning by a controversial split decision. Diaz is a local kid who has worked hard to become a top level fighter, all the while paying for college at the University of Houston from which he is soon to graduate. Here in Houston he is beloved and seen as a hero.

As I watched the fight I kept wondering how well he would do against some of the top 135-pound fighters out there. After the fight, he was asked whom he would like to fight next.

As always he stated that he wanted to fight the best, including Juan Miguel Marquez and Joel Casamayor. This month we will see a fight between these two fighters and I for one would love to see him take on the winner of that fight.

Juan Diaz is a smart and exciting fighter who can punch for days. In last night's fight he seemed to be bringing more pop in his punches and adding more power to his fights would bring even more excitement. He would match up well with Marquez or Casamayor, or even Manny Pacquiao.

Throw in a rematch with Nate Campbell and we could be seeing Juan Diaz making the real money he deserves and boxing fans watching some action packed fights.