****Since I first wrote this, it has been disclosed that Anderson Silva will replace Thiago Silva and fight Forrest Griffin at UFC 101 on August 8th****
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!
Tonight marks the finale for season 8 of the UFC and SpikeTV’s wildly successful “The Ultimate Fighter” franchise. For those of you NOT in the know, the winner of the Ultimate Fighter main events (lightweight and light heavyweight this season) get a 6 figure contract with the UFC and you get to see some sweet action live and free! This show has produced a champion (Forrest Griffin), #1 contenders (Rashad Evans, Kenny Florian) and all out nut jobs (Chris Leben and this season Junie “Bi-Polar” Browning). As usual, to culminate the season the UFC puts a free show on SpikeTV (8pm ET) to decide who is the Ultimate Fighter. Mixed along with some usually pretty interesting battles the free card is always a nice treat for the fans, fairweather to hardcore.
So in what I hope will become a regular post (predceding all buig MMA events) I will break down the matches with my extreme knowledge and research (see: guesses) and try to give you an edge over your buddies when you are putting in your MMA Fantasy picks or playing a drinking game. This time around I will detail the maybe lesser known fighters that are competing from the show and quickly break down the more accomplished fighters that fill the card . So here we go… (P.S I will only discuss the fights that are to be televised)
Lightweight contract fight: Phillipe “Lil’ Spyda” Nover vs. Efran “Eff U” Escudero (155lbs)
Since his pass out session in the first episode, Nover has been making a name for himself as well as making people pass-out, by way of punching their brains to sleep and impressing the sh** out of everyone including Dana White, who thinks he may be the next “Anderson Silva”. If he can continue to show his uncanny ability to make people think because he is a nurse he won’t hurt people and then continue to hurt people very badly, I think he could fair well in this match up.
Escudero has little left to prove as he has overcome two of the biggest shit talkers (couldn’t hold back) in TUF history, Junie Browning and Shane Nelson. First, Shane Nelson got drunk and nasally verbally assaulted Efran before their match-up, only to be thoroughly out classed in the Octagon then Efran choked out the Fran Drescher impersonator. Then continuing his journey into the A-hole hall of fame, Junie jumped into the Octagon after Escudero beat Nelson and proceeded to talk his way into a beating by Efran in a fight to see who would face Nover tonight.
Who’s going to win?: Efran has only shown a good ground game but Nover just received his black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu so theres no advantage there. I would say Nover shows why he’s the next Spyda and knocks out the stockier Escudero in the 1st round
Light Heavyweight contract fight: Ryan “Master” Bader vs. Vinicius “Maximus” Magalhães (205lbs)
Bader with his frat boy looks and gelled up do really surprised some people in the house with his ability to stay awake while laying on his opponents. An Arizona State wrestler following in the footsteps of last seasons douche bag extraordinaire C.B Dalloway among many others, Bader used his good take down skills in his matches and some solid ground and pound to bore his way to a victory.
Vinny is an unreal Jiu Jitsu specialist with limited stand up skills. He tries to utilize the lay and prey technique which finally work on his last opponent Krzysztof Soszynski when he caught him in a click arm bar to go to the finale. Vinny was probably the most hyped fighter to get to the show because of his fight pedigree which made him the second pick of coach Frank Mir. Assuming he would have been first pick by fellow countryman and idol Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Vinny was pretty PO’ed and later in the season took it out on the coach in what was probably the most embarrassing war of words between to huge fighters I have ever seen.
Who’s gonna win?: Seeing as Bader just likes to lay on his opponents and Vinny wants his opponents to come to his domain on the ground. I see a quick submission by Vinny in the second round sending Bader back to his dressing room to gel up his do and slap some blue steel on the reporters in the post fight conference.
Lightweight fight Junie “Bi-Polar” Browning vs. Dave “Capitals” Kaplan (155lbs)
Junie either came into the show to make a name for himself as the craziest bastard from Kentucky (trust me that’s not an easy task) or he is legitimately bi-polar and my joking nickname is severely insensitive. Either way the guy is a nut bar and was pretty entertaining and actually showed some promised in his first fight aside from his poor cardio. Eventually losing the final match to Efran by choke out in the third round Junie vowed to never fight again, then minutes later vowed this wouldn’t be the last time we saw Mr. Browning.
Dave “Capitals” Kaplan maybe the brightest fighter with the WORST game plan. Guaranteeing to know the capital of any country in the world, Dave used his large brain to provide some of the best quotes from the show. The times he probably should have used a little more of his grey matter provided the best highlights. For his fight against Nover, Kaplan thought he would take Phillipe’s best shots chin side then after not being able to be knocked out take over and win the fight. The only problem? Kaplan was human and while not being knocked out techinically he was about 3 seconds from pressing the snooze button. The loss fueled a drinking binge Kaplan during which announced he could never be knocked out. Obliging in the request of Kaplan to prove this statement, Kyle Kingsbury (205lbs) punched him in the face and what looked liked killed the much smaller Kaplan, after a short Kingsbury induced nap Kapland emerged to only state he was just kidding. Truly genius.
Who’s gonna win?: Kaplan may be smarter but Junie is WAY crazier. I think Browning will show up with improved conditioning to what he showed on the show and use his strong chin and good submissions to take Kaplan out in a decision.
Middleweight Fight: Jason “The Athlete” MacDonald vs. Wilson “Fat Ass” Gouveia (189lbs)
Who’s gonna win?: Seeing as Gouveia couldn’t resist snacking in between training, this fight will no longer be at the scheduled middleweight of 185lbs but rather a catch weight of 189. MacDonald is a very fit Canadian that has always came out and put on good fights and being in the better shape I thing he will prevail. MacDonald by rear naked choke in the first round.
Welterweight fight: Kevin “Pokey” Burns vs. Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (170lbs)
Who’s gonna win?: This is a rematch with some bad blood and even worse vision. In their first match, Burns fighting with a broken left hand, repeatedly poked “Rumble” in the eye during their bout which eventually had to be stopped by the referee after Johnson suffered a VERY severe eye laceration that required surgery. No fully healthy Burns intends on doing damage with a closed fist. I just think Rumble is too athletic and strong and certainly pissed off to lose this one. I say Rumble with a flash TKO in the first.
This concludes the first edition of Goat’s guesses. Hopefully my genius predictions bring you into money or at least a few drinks given out to your sad sack pals. Good luck to all the fighters tonight as no one hopes to see carnage like the stuff that took place on Wednesday at UFC Fight for the Troops.
Peace!
