UFC 133 Fight Card: What Jorge Rivera Must Do to Beat Costantinos Philippou

If you've been following MMA for the past five to six years, you probably know what kind of fighter Jorge Rivera is by now.

For the most part, he likes his fights to stay vertical and he loves to stand and bang with his foes, although he usually doesn't lose his cool if the fight goes to the ground.

At UFC 133, Rivera's technical stand-up game and his well-known Boxing offense will face off against the well-rounded striking of Constantinos Philippou.

Now, there's not much that can be said about the striking of Philippou right off the bat because his last fight was on the undercard of UFC 128.

Rivera co-headlined UFC 127, and we all know what happened there.

While we may not know how good Philippou is in the striking realm, we can always trust that his striking is diverse enough to where we can say it'll give Rivera some trouble.

Let's say for a second that Philippou does like to mix it up and throw some crazy kicks as well as a few elbows and knees in addition to your Average Joe's punch: How does Rivera prepare for that?

I'm sure his coaches have prepared him for just about anything Philippou will throw at him, so Rivera will know exactly when to stand in the pocket and bang with Philippou and when to use his movement.

Good thing too, because that's what he needs to do.

He needs to move his head, his body and utilize the living daylights out of his footwork when Philippou throws, and he needs to time his shots, whether they're counter shots or thoughts he throws on his own accord.

Philippou wants to stand, strike and be known as the man who retired Jorge Rivera, just as some feel Rich Franklin is the man who officially retired Chuck Liddell, just as Lyoto Machida is the man who retired Randy Couture for good and just as some believe Chris Leben may have been the man to retire Wanderlei Silva.

Rivera may make Philippou wish he left it at his unsuccessful run at The Ultimate Fighter 11 come tomorrow night.