UFC Discussion

[Cyclone792]

There's a couple UFC fans here on RZ, and rather than start a new thread for each event, I figured I'd toss up a UFC thread where we can discuss each event as they pop up.

Anyway, UFC 73 is tomorrow night in Sacramento in what is one of the best fight cards I've ever seen. Here's the matchups, and these are some freakin' huge names and huge fights ... who are some of your picks in these bouts?

UFC Middleweight Championship
Anderson Silva vs. Nate Marquardt

UFC Lightweight Championship
Sean Sherk vs. Hermes Franca

Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Heath Herring

Kenny Florian vs. Alvin Robinson
Stephan Bonnar vs. Mike Nickels
Jorge Gurgel vs. Diego Saraiva
Chris Lytle vs. Jason Gilliam
Mark Bocek Vs. Frank Edgar

In the middleweight title bout, I'm going to take a chance and go with Marquardt over Silva in the upset. I'd love to see Marquardt take Silva down, then use his wrestling skills to gain a dominant position over Silva and ground and pound the champ. I'm not sure Marquardt can stand with Silva, but if he can take him down to the ground and avoid a submission, I think he's got a good chance to pull the upset.

In the lightweight title bout, this is a bit of coin flip here but I'm going to go with Sherk (who I'd love to see smash Mayweather in an MMA bout, but that's another topic). Sherk is an absurd wrestler with absurd strength, but Franca is also a sick BJJ fighter. However, I think Sherk can avoid the submission and use his wrestling, strength advantage, and conditioning advantage to wear Franca down and pull out a victory. Nevertheless, that's a pretty tough fight to predict, IMO, and it should be exciting.

I can't wait to see Nogueira fight for the first time in the UFC tomorrow night, and he could very well be the Heavyweight belt holder in a few months. Herring's no joke himself, but they've fought once with Nogueira winning and I see the same result happening again.

Tito Ortiz and Rashad Evans should be another great fight, but just like Diego Sanchez was bound to eventually lose, so is Evans. It seems like a lot of people are picking Evans to use Ortiz as a stepping stone, but I'm going to go with Tito here.

And lastly, while we may not see the fight tomorrow night on the PPV card as it's an undercard fight, hopefully local Cincinnati fighter (by way of Brazil) and my former neighbor Jorge Gurgel pulls off a victory over Diego Saraiva.

[halcyon]

I missed this thread pre-fight, but I figured I'd jump in anyways. I'm in a very small and informal UFC fantasy league at work. My choices were Ortiz, Nog, Silva, Sherk, Florian, Bonnar, Lytle, Edgar and Gurgel. You also have to pick the method of victory, round and minute. I think I came in second for the nite.

Nogueira was nearly a big disappointment. The UFC woulda had to be frustrated had he lost to Herring. Herring is never going to be a threat in the big picture in the heavyweight division and he had already lost to Nog twice before.

I thought Evans actually came across as a bigger jerk than Ortiz, post-fight. Surprising.

I also think Sherk's head is filled with concrete.

[mole44]

I'm in a very small and informal UFC fantasy league at work. You also have to pick the method of victory, round and minute.

Holy crap, thats brilliant!

[Doro]

I too didnt come across this thread till after the card. Although there wasnt a lot of highlight reel endings I thought it was one of the best UFC PPV's to date matchups wise. Sean Sherk vs. Hermes Franca was a great fight and cant believe how Sherk was taking those knees to the hiead and also escaping a number of deep guillotine's.

[Cyclone792]

Lots of big UFC news for Cincinnati as it looks like UFC 77 will be held down at US Bank Arena this fall. The UFC event will undoubtedly sell the place out in probably a day or two, and it may be one of the biggest events held in US Bank Arena in years. This is good news for downtown Cincinnati itself as it should benefit very nicely from the overall economic impact of the UFC rolling into town.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/s/con...mainsider.html

Saturday's hyped UFC 73 proves to be unspectacular
By Dann Stupp
Contributing Writer
Monday, July 09, 2007

Saturday's UFC 73 event in Sacramento, Calif., proved that it's the quality of the fights — not the quality of the fighters — that creates great events.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship's pay-per-view event was aptly named "Stacked." With two title fights, the UFC debut of former PRIDE heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and a much-hyped bout between UFC legend Tito Ortiz and reality-TV star Rashad Evans, the expectations were astronomical.

Ultimately, though, the event proved to be nothing spectacular. No belts changed hands, Ortiz and Evans fought to a draw, and — in a year of major upsets — not a single underdog emerged victorious on the nine-fight card.

However, with UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva's first-round TKO of Nate Marquardt in the night's main-event, a rematch with Rich Franklin is now booked for Cincinnati's U.S. Bank Arena.

Headed to Cincy

Back in October 2006, a seemingly indestructible Franklin was forced to surrender his middleweight belt to Silva.

The former Cincinnati high school math teacher hadn't lost a fight in three years. He was considered indestructible, and his future as the UFC's poster-boy champion seemed a lock. However, Silva completely and utterly dismantled the former champ with a series of knees and scored a first-round TKO at UFC 64.

After Silva successfully defended his title Saturday night, UFC officials confirmed that Franklin vs. Silva II will take place at U.S. Bank Arena on Oct. 20.

Look for tickets to go on sale in late September or early October.

In the spotlight

UFC welterweight Jon Fitch (14-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) is perhaps the best fighter that casual MMA fans have never heard of.

Despite a stellar record and current 13-fight win streak, the former Fort Wayne, Ind., resident and Purdue University wrestling captain has been relegated mostly to untelevised undercard fights.

As any MMA fighter will tell you, TV exposure is key to a successful career.

Over the weekend, though, I learned Fitch will next fight fellow 170-pound contender Diego Sanchez on Sept. 22. And it may even be a televised, co-main event at UFC 76.

"It's about time," says one of his training partners. "What more does a guy have to do to get some love?"

Dann Stupp is editor-in-chief of UFCjunkie.com. For your daily fix of MMA and UFC news, go to www.ufcjunkie.com.

http://ufcjunkie.com

As UFCjunkie.com (www.ufcjunkie.com) exclusively announced last month, the UFC is heading to Cincinnati, Ohio for a show on Oct. 20.

After UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva (19-4 MMA, 4-0 UFC) defended his belt against Nate Marquardt last night at UFC 73, officials confirmed that former champ Rich Franklin (22-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) would get his shot at redemption — and it’ll come in his hometown of Cincinnati.

Silva defeated Franklin with a first-round TKO at UFC 64. The October 2006 loss snapped Franklin’s eight-fight win streak.

Franklin rebounded with a win over Jason MacDonald at UFC 68, and while at the March show, UFC president Dana White told Franklin that he would get his rematch with Silva at a Cincinnati event later in the year. The rematch ultimately was contingent on two key victories: Franklin’s over Yushin Okami at UFC 72, and Silva’s over Marquardt last night.

The stars aligned, and U.S. Bank Arena will now play host to UFC 77.

A source close to the arena told UFCjunkie.com that preparations have already begun for the show.

U.S. Bank Arena, located along the Ohio River, shares a plaza with the Cincinnati Reds’ Great American Ball Park and can accommodate approximately 17,000 spectators. A minor-league hockey game between the Cincinnati Cyclones and Dayton Bombers was reassigned to Dayton to make room for the UFC event on Oct. 20.

So, why Cincinnati? In addition to Franklin’s appeal, the success of UFC 68 likely played an important role. The first-ever UFC show in Ohio was a hugely successful event. In addition to setting a record for the largest live attendance in North American mixed-martial arts history, UFC 68 also broke the arena’s record for live gate and total merchandise sales. The night’s crowd, which produced a three-week sellout for the event, was at 95 percent capacity before the first fight even began.

For the latest news about UFC 77, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of UFCjunkie.com.

Forty-eight hours after Rashad Evans and Tito Ortiz’s dramatic — and somewhat disappointing — draw at Saturday’s UFC 73 event, UFCjunkie.com (www.ufcjunkie.com) has learned that their rematch will take Oct. 20 at the UFC 77 event that’s set for Cincinnati, Ohio.

Earlier today, UFCjunkie.com confirmed the date with a representative from Evans’ camp.

Despite two title fights and the Octagon debut of a former PRIDE heavyweight champion, it was Ortiz (15-5-1 MMA, 14-5-1 UFC) and Evans (10-0-1 MMA, 5-0-1 UFC) who remained the focus of this past weekend’s pay-per-view event. The former UFC light heavyweight champion and his undefeated opponent stole the headlines, secured top billing in the event’s marketing materials, and even became the focus of the night’s post-event press conference.

During that media event, UFC president Dana White stated — rather definitively — that a rematch was imminent and that neither fighter would be booked for another event before the rematch takes place.

As it turns out, the UFC wasted no time scheduling the date. UFC 77 takes place Oct. 20 at U.S. Bank Arena in downtown Cincinnati. The arena can accommodate approximately 17,000 spectators.

Just like this past weekend, Evans vs. Ortiz II may steal some of the spotlight from what is supposed to be UFC 77’s real main event: current UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva vs. Rich Franklin, who will meet in another anticipated rematch. In October 2006, Silva defeated then-champ Franklin with a first-round TKO to claim the middleweight championship.

Franklin, a former Cincinnati high school math teacher, will look to reclaim his title in front of a hometown crowd.

For the latest news about UFC 77, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of UFCjunkie.com.

[halcyon]

I'll be quite surprised if Silva is given too much trouble by Franklin. He looked to be in top form on Saturday night. The Cincy card doesn't exactly wow me but it should be interesting, nonetheless.

Does anyone know when/if the UFC is going to schedule a fight for Fedor in the heavyweight division? That would be interesting, as would seeing CroCop get another fight to redeem himself.

[Javy Pornstache]

Cro Cop is fighting Cheick Kongo at UFC 75; if he wins, it's believed he will get his long-awaited rematch with Minotauro for a Heavyweight Title shot.

Fedor's not in yet, but Dana White keeps saying he fully expects to have him signed and in his first fight by the end of 2007 or beginning of 2008, and his first UFC fight would immediately be a title fight, similar to Dan Henderson facing Quinton Jackson at UFC 75 right off the bat (I realize Hendo fought in UFC back in the day, but he's 'new' to so many casual UFC fans since he's been in PRIDE for a while).

[halcyon]

I think thats fair (for Henderson) and I can't imagine a lot of people wanting Fedor to prove himself first either. He's already done that in Pride. I just read the interview with Dana on ESPN where he made some comments about it all. Interesting stuff.

I had forgotten the news about CroCop fighting Kongo. That's an intriguing bout. So much hype and pub surrounding him, he can't hardly afford to lose to Kongo. Getting obliterated by Gonzaga's right foot really de-mystified him to a lot of folks I would guess.

[Javy Pornstache]

I agree, it's definitely fair for Henderson to get that fight right off the bat... even though there have been mixed signals in the news reports about it, it looks like that is a unification bout with Rampage, so the winner is gonna walk out with both UFC and PRIDE 205 belts. So much for keeping PRIDE as a separate entity... I figured that wasn't going to happen all along though. Takanori Gomi reportedly signing with K-1 Heroes is definitely a signal that they don't plan on running PRIDE even as a Japanese-centric promotion, heavily focused on the Japanese fighters. I thought for a while they'd do that at the very least. Fedor will immediately be fighting the UFC Heavyweight champ in similar fashion, a unification bout, I'd imagine.

Anyway, yeah, the Gonzaga fight definitely demystified Cro Cop to many, especially to the fans who were new to Mirko, the ones whom he was being built up to. But anyone that has known him knows he bounces back well from losses. I wasn't shocked that Gonzaga won that fight, but definitely was shocked with the fashion of winning, a head kick KO right out of Mirko's playbook. Which basically means, yeah, if Gonzaga could do it, then Kongo certainly can too with his kickboxing background. But I bet ya Cro Cop is way more focused.

[Cyclone792]

Rampage vs. Henderson

Who ya got?

I'll take Rampage.

I've also got Cro Cop, Bisping, Alexander, Davis, and Silva winning their fights. Most of the rest of the undercards I'm not familiar enough to pick a winner, unfortunately.

[M2]

I'll go with Rampage, Bisping, Congo (I doubt Cro Cop's ever going to be able to much of a shot to the dome after what Gonzaga did to him), Taylor, Alexander, Etim (he looked good on the last free card show in April), Silva, Kotani (I figure the UFC is desperate for some Japanese fighters to get some wins so they set Kotani up with a creampuff), Torres

[Javy Pornstache]

Just now noticed this thread, I went 7-2 in my picks, took the underdog in five of the nine fights, and got four of those, and should have gotten the fifth (abomination of a decision in the Bisping-Hamill fight). The other fight I missed was an underdog I picked against that did win - Kongo. Kudos to M2 for calling that one. I had the Rampage, Davis, Alexander, Silva, Tibau, Siver and Liaudin picks all right, down to how they won in every fight except one (had Siver winning by decision over Kotani, but he won by KO).

The Bisping-Hamill decision was infuriating.

[Cyclone792]

Of the fights I picked, I went 5-1 with Cro Cop being the only loss. Actually, I should have gone 4-2 because Matt Hamill did not lose that fight last night.

I very much enjoyed the Rampage/Henderson fight, and I thought it was a pretty good fight. I'd expect Henderson to go down to middleweight now (is he fighting the winner of Rich/Silva next?) and probably stay there permanently.

Also, what's up with Cro Cop? I know he hates to cut weight, but it looks like he could use dropping down to light-heavyweight to try to get back on the winning track.

[M2]

Originally Posted by Cyclone792

Also, what's up with Cro Cop? I know he hates to cut weight, but it looks like he could use dropping down to light-heavyweight to try to get back on the winning track.

He looks like a fighter who's taken too much punishment.

Kongo never caught him with a haymaker, but a few times you could see that shots to the head were shutting down Cro Cop's circuitry. You see this happen with boxers too. Basically what happens is the primary brain cells that control parts of his motor function are gone and it's not too hard to rattle the backup system.

I didn't see Cro Cop's fights right before Gonzaga, but fighters don't come back from knockouts like the Gonzaga inflicted upon him

I doubt dropping to light heavyweight would help. Rampage, Chuck, Tito, Evans, Griffin, Alexander, Jardine - there's a lot of guys who can rattle your cage at that level.

On a separate note, why doesn't the UFC have top 10 rankings?

[Javy Pornstache]

Originally Posted by M2

He looks like a fighter who's taken too much punishment.

Kongo never caught him with a haymaker, but a few times you could see that shots to the head were shutting down Cro Cop's circuitry. You see this happen with boxers too. Basically what happens is the primary brain cells that control parts of his motor function are gone and it's not too hard to rattle the backup system.

I didn't see Cro Cop's fights right before Gonzaga, but fighters don't come back from knockouts like the Gonzaga inflicted upon him

I doubt dropping to light heavyweight would help. Rampage, Chuck, Tito, Evans, Griffin, Alexander, Jardine - there's a lot of guys who can rattle your cage at that level.

On a separate note, why doesn't the UFC have top 10 rankings?

You absolutely have missed Mirko at his very best if you haven't seen him before Gonzaga. If you meant the literal subsequent fights before Gonzaga, that was perhaps Mirko at his best... the Open Weight Grand Prix championship in PRIDE, where he decimated Ikuhisa "The Punk" Minowa, Olympic gold medalist judoka Hidehiko Yoshida, Wanderlei Silva and Josh Barnett to win the tourney in his four 2006 fights, and his first UFC fight in January of this year, he looked pretty good against Eddie Sanchez (albeit he is not nearly at the level of the guys he beat in the PRIDE Grand Prix, or Gonzaga or Kongo for that matter).

You are correct though that, most of the time, at least, fighters don't come back from knockouts like that, and that's across the board.... boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, MMA, whatever. The aforementioned Wanderlei Silva is another recent example of an MMA idol who just hasn't been the same (ironically, it was Cro Cop who delivered that devastating KO to Silva). Guys just have a hard time being the same following that, and it truly does mess up their reflexes.

I mentioned this in the last post, but I don't think weight cutting has anything to do with this for this reason. But, if Cro Cop WAS at his best, he should absolutely destroy everyone in M2's list of LHWs in the UFC with the exception of Rampage and Liddell. Not to say he wouldn't win those fights, but I don't think it'd be a one-sided brutalization as it would to Griffin, Jardine, etc.

About the non-existent top-ten rankings... I dunno? Good question. A lot of MMA journalism sites rank them, but UFC doesn't list their own contenders, at least in this day and age of its large popularity surge.