As a massive MMA (mixed martial arts) fan, I am constantly defending the sport to people who are either uninformed or just looking to bust my balls.  Either way, I usually get pretty riled up and some how always end up just calling the person a name. Yes, my tactics haven’t changed since kindergarten.  One of my friends, Darkman, is a HUGE boxing fan and is only somewhat interested in MMA and more than anything just LOVES the fact he can rile me up whenever he wants.  One of his big complaints is the fact that anyone can beat anyone and usually 80% of the fights are just dudes laying on each other doing nothing.

 So coming into the fights a few weekends ago, I invited the DarkMan over to my mansion to take in  the fights on my 150″ HD TV. (See: one bedroom shoebox apartment and 32″ tube TV) and after checking with EVERYONE else and seeing there were just no other options, he obliged to join me.  After a few beers and some less than impressive fights, he started in about guys just laying on each other blah blah blah…That’s when I really stepped in it, “Wait till Anderson fights, then they be some excitement”.  He agreed and said that was the only fight he was looking forward too, were we EVER wrong.

In his first fight back since his weird, jitterbugging fight against Patrick Cote, I figured Anderson would have to just come in and decimate Thales Leites to shut everyone up and show them who’s boss.  Instead Anderson just sort of proved he seemed to like doing the jitterbug a hell of a lot more.  Sure, every time he tried to engage his opponent, Leites would just drop to his ass and lay there in the “GoatDiesel Defensive Position” but for me that is no excuse.  If you are the “pound for pound” best fighter in the world, shouldn’t you be able to hang with anyone, anywhere in the cage, including the ground?  I have NEVER seen another fighter stay away from another fighter the way Leites did but I have also never seen a fighter who was supposed to be the best stay away as well.  I truly think if that was GSP, he would have given up and engaged Thales on the ground, I would say the same for BJ Penn AND Fedor and those 3 have to be the other guys on tops of anyone’s list.

So what is the problem with Silva then?  I’m glad you asked.  I honestly think he is both bored and pissed off.  Bored with having to deal with completely inferior opposition just so fans can watch him fight every few months.  And pissed off for, having to deal with completely inferior opposition just so fans can watch him fight every few months.  Why the UFC doesn’t wait a few months and give ”Spider” some real competition at Middleweight is a mystery to me!  It’s not as if the division is empty, they gave Rich Franklin 2 shots at him, why not Nate Marquardt or Okami?  Sure he fought Nate the Great before but it was 2 years ago and Nate truly looks like a new and far better opponent now a days.  Okami is an very interesting fight as well because he was the last person to “beat” Anderson Silva.  I used quotations because it was actually a disqualification for an illegal kick that DQ’ed Silva and gave Okami the win.  Both of these guys are by far the best in the weight class in the UFC, besides Silva of course, so why keep throwing him guys that aren’t even in the Top 10 of the weight division?  Because, I believe the UFC does get greedy and figures as long as you throw a guy of Silva’s calibre you are going to get fireworks and you are going to get ratings.  Unfortunately for the fans, there was no gun powder on Montreal on the 18th.

Now it has been disclosed that Anderson Silva will face Forrest Griffin at 205lbs on August 8th.  WHY?  Sure, its probably going to be the 3rd most anticipated fight that has been official announced to take place this year, GSP vs, Thiago Alves and Brock vs. Frank Mir) but to me it doesn’t make sense.  If Anderson’s last two fights were at 185lbs and he either decimated top contenders or had a couple of wars, this fight makes sense.  But coming off of two of the weirdest fights I have ever witnessed?  Doesn’t make sense to me to put him up at 205lbs.

 For those of you that don’t know, the UFC, unable to find Silva formidable competition at his “natural” weight class of 185lbs, let the very talented fight move up to 205lbs, while they went searching for anyone who would give the champ a challenge.  In his only fight at the 205lb weight class, Anderson looked pretty impressive. In his debut he took on the very heavy handed James “the Sandman” Irvin that has unreal KO power.  That fight lasted a total of 61 seconds before Silva caught a kick from Irvin with one hand and then knocked him out with his other hand.  Yes, he is THAT GOOD.

Make NO mistake, Forrest Griffin is no Thales Leites or James Irvin, this man is a legit ex-champion at 205lbs and VERY GAME.  I will bet the farm you don’t seem Forrest dropping to his ass unless its either a joke or because Anderson puts him there.  Forrest is a serious striker with a concrete chin and with his debut in the UFC, a war with Stephan Bonnar, he helped put the UFC and MMA in the mainstream with his heart and determination.  The winner of season 1 of The Ultimate Fighter, Griffin is a VERY popular fighter and is no doubt very excited to be the guy who gets to make Silva actually HAVE to fight someone.

If Silva beats Griffin, the UFC almost HAS to give him a title shot or at least a fight with Rampage Jackson or the loser of Lyoto Machida and “Sugar” Rashad Evans.  If Silva loses, keep him at 185lbs, throw him a good challenge and if he handles them easily then throw him and GSP together and let’s truly find out who the best pound for pound fighter in the world is.

Peace!

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He is Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida and he is NO joke.  Sporting a 14-0 record and beating some of the BEST fighters at the 205lb limit, this guy is legit.  Known for his evasive style and now ultimately for his mind numbing knock out of the feared Thiago Silva, the Dragon looks to continue his winning ways against Rashad.  To me this is the fight that SHOULD have taken place the whole time but you can’t argue with the crowd that Rampage brings with him and the all important pay-per-view buys but Lyoto deserved this shot first.  The guy is unbeaten and to tell the truth he has pretty much gone unhit (new word #113) as well.   Make no mistake  Rashad is more than game for this challenge having this to say about Lyoto on sherdog.com

 ” “The kid’s been phenomenal. He’s been better than phenomenal. He’s been looking better every fight. But that’s the fight business. That’s the fun part about a fight is the fact that you go in there with an opponent that sometimes seems insurmountable. But then you figure it out and that makes the victory that much sweeter. With that said, there may be some kinks in his armor that I have yet to see that I can exploit when I look at the tapes more closely. Nobody’s unbeatable. Machida’s been looking slicker than I don’t know what, but everybody has a weakness even if you do look slick as oil. Everyone has a weakness.”

Who does GoatDiesel think is going to win?  I truly don’t know right now?  The short turn around for this fight (May 23rd, UFC 98) gives a slight advantage to Lyoto, as he seems to take a more similar approach to each of his fights.  While Sugar is a part of Team Jackson and they are of a more thorough, dissecting thought process in my mind and with only 2 months to dissect fight tapes and such might be a bit much but that is just a thought.  Regardless, I believe this fight will live up to the billing of a championship fight and truly excites me more than a Rampage and Evans fight.

Peace!

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Today marks a day I have been waiting to come for almost 6 months, George St. Pierre vs. BJ Penn.  It seems like only yesterday I was throwing back my first beer during UFC 93 and now I am already back to give you my always spot on predictions! Right now I am 4 for 9 on my predictions but don’t worry, I will go 100% tonight (wink wink nudge nudge).

As always, I will only discuss the fights that are going to be televised and give you the leg up on your boy, girl, or like me, imaginary friends, that you have bets against for the fights tonight.

Main Event: 170lbs George ” I need a new nickname” St. Pierre vs. BJ “Lil’ Buddha” Penn

Finally, a fight people can get excited for!  The #1 welterweight in the world vs. the #1 lightweight in the world.  Although this is a dream match up, I hate how it came to fruition. I will do a quick recap for those of you that may not know.  After GSP decimated, in my eyes, his biggest competition in Jon Fitch, fat little BJ waltz’s into the ring like he often does and stops the celebrations early.  He then continues to let Dana White and the rest of  the world know that he not only doesn’t respect anything except Hawaii but he also thinks 3 seconds is long enough for GSP to find his next opponent, himself.  I truly think the UFC treats their Welterweight champion poorly and this is just another example of that treatment. First you make a reality show where any dude who can beat some other nobody’s gets the chance to become the welterweight champion.  Then you let a loud mouthfrom ANOTHER weight division walk in to the Octagon and challenge your champion 3 seconds after he just went 5 rounds with a REAL contender.  If this pisses me off, imagine what it did to St. Pierre.  

Keys to victory:  I don’t think there is a bigger polar opposite of two fighters then that of Penn and St. Pierre.  Penn does a lot and I mean A LOT of trash talking and gloating, while GSP does his talking IN the cage (imagine that) and never gloats.  I think this fight is going to come down to 1 of 2 things, conditioning or a weak chin.  If it comes down to conditioning I HAVE to give this fight to GSP.  He is a super athlete and probably the best conditioned fighter in the game. While BJ on the other hand is not known for his conditioning and regardless if hes not a fatty coming into this fight, I think he’ll still be gassed if this baby makes it to the third round. The second option is the questionable chin of GSP and you can thank Matt Serra for that question even arising.  BJ Penn is a great boxer, so this makes it even tougher for St. Pierre and his shaky chin.

And the winner is:I have always been a believer that the more trash you talk the more scared you are so…GSP 4th round TKO!  EFF YOU BJ!!!

205lbs: Lyoto “Defence” Machida vs. Thiago “Scary as hell” Silva

I am very excited for this fight as well, you have another two fighters that are just about as different as two guys could be.  Machida and Silva are both 13-0 and Brazilian but that is where the similarities end.  Machida is a very quiet and VERY elusive fighter with knock out power and some crazy ass karate skills.  While Silva is a really effing scary dude that isn’t scared to take a chance and punch your head off into the 4th row.  I think this fight is under rated by most fans and will end up being a wicked brawl that might be fight of the night.

Keys to victory:  Machida  isn’t going to surprise anyone with his tactics in this fight because he is such a calculated and elusive fighter, it would be stupid for him to change up anything now.  If you haven’t seen this guy fight before get ready for something you may never seen from anyone else.  He comes off boring but for hardcore fans he is a big time pleasure to watch. With his elusive defensive style he really annoys fighters until they snap and make a mistake.  Silva on the hand, pressures fighters into making mistakes by scaring the shit out of them and then capitalizing with repeated punches to the face, just ask Houston Alexander.

And the winner is: Machida submission round 3.

205lbs: Stephan “American Psycho” Bonnar vs. Jon “Who” Jones

Fresh off a suspension from alleged steroid use, Bonnar looks to reclaim his glory days in possibly his last fight in the UFC.  If you have watched the UFC before, you should almost thank Bonnar, he was one half of a fight that probably saved the UFC.  Back in ‘05, two weird looking dudes went at it for 3 rounds in one of the most exciting fights I have seen in the 8 sided cage and one of those weird dudes was Bonnar.  Since then he has gone 5-2 in the octagon before getting suspended and this is his first fight back and I believe he has to win it to stay in the UFC.  Now Bonnar’s opponent, Jon Jones, is another story and its a story I don’t know.  I have honestly never seen this guy fight but I do know he is 7-0, so that’s something right?  From what I have read he likes to punch people and pretty effectively too, out of his 7 wins, 5 of them are by way of KO’s from punches.   If he can end this fight by KO punches, I will move Jones into my Facebook top 5 favourite fighters because Bonnar has a chin made of effing granite.

Keys to victory:  Bonnar NEEDS this win plain and simple. Steroid suspensions are bad and losing after one is even worse because it makes you look like you need the juice to win fights.  If he can stick to his nick name and be a true psycho again I believe he can beat whats his name and come close to reclaiming his spot as gate keeper in the UFC. Jones, nobody knows who you are, so go out there and make them remember you.  Like I said before, Bonnar is an animal with a crazy chin so go for his legs or arms or anything, just hit him hard.

And the winner is:  Bonnar by unanimous decision.

155lbs: Nate “Nasal” Diaz vs. Clay “Crazy ass” Guida

Ever since he appeared on season 5 of the ultimate fighter, I have had a man crush on Diaz.  He’s a shit talker and a he backs it up and I love that about him and his brother.  Diaz actually won season 5 of TUF and all of his fights so far in the UFC and is looking like he may be a contender in the lightweight division very soon and he is fighting one of the gatekeepers tonight, Clay Guida.  If you haven’t seen this guy fight then you have seen heart, Guida is a lion and I mean that just as much for his crazy ass hair as I do for his relentlessness and heart.  This guy puts the pressure on his opponents and NEVER stops, his fight with movie star Roger Huerta was a crazy battle.  He ended up losing the fight in the final round by submission but if it went to the cards that fight would have been a draw because it was a war. 

Keys to victory: There is no doubt both these guys are in GREAT shape, so cardio won’t come into play for either of them.  Guida is a pressure man and Diaz seems to get better as the fight gets tougher, so it might work against Clay if he pressures too hard and gets caught in one of Nate’s crazy ass submissions.  Guida does have one thing going for him though and that would be Nate’s overconfidence.  He is known to leave his chin exposed and I don’t think that is from lack of training as much as it from him thinking he can’t be knocked out.  Guida will definitely have to either win by KO or decision because once this baby hits the mat its all Diaz.

Winner: Diaz 3rd round choke out.

170lbs: Karo “Heat” Parisyan vs. Dong Hyun “Stun Gun” Kim

I’ll be honest, I HATE Karo Parisyan and I really have NO idea why the UFC keeps him employed.  He is SO boring, never trains and I don’t think he’s lifted a weight in his life.  Actually, after writing that first sentence I refuse to go on anymore about this crappy fight:

And the winner is: Anybody not watching. Judo throws for 3 rounds until Kim wins by decision and HOPEFULLY it is Karo’s last fight.

Well that’s all folks!  Hopefully my predictions will fair better than in the past and you will all win any bet you make. 

Peace!

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