Ufc 118

[mmajunkie]

James Toney got paid half a million for that? What a crock haha

Props to Frankie...BJ is out of his prime though, needs to change something drastic or somethin.

lol @ the cake at the weigh-ins...

UFC 119 is gonna be a snorefest I think.

CroCop takes Mir out. I hate Mir. Hope this is a brutal KO headkick pulled out of 6 years ago. (assuming Mir is still under the impression he has godlike standup. He may grind out a decision)

Bader is gonna take the decision.

Serra will get a sub.

[HBwillie]

I picked every fight right @ 118, except the Maynard/Florian fight. I guess I wasn't giving Maynard enough credit for his takedowns.

Anyway, for 119...here it goes:

Jeremy Stephens over Melvin Guillard - This could go either way, I'm totally 50/50, but I'm a bigger fan of lil heathen, so that's what I'm going with. This is a matchup of athletic ability VS tenacity, with a nearly equal skillset.

Joey Beltran over Matt Mitrione - Mitrone is a powerful striker for one round. If it goes beyond that, or even if it doesn't, Beltran will probably end this fight via TKO. He's heavy handed, and won his first two UFC fights against some solid opponents. Plus, I don't think he's ever been stopped via strikes.

CB Dollaway over Joe Doerkson - Even though, for whatever reason, I can't stand CB, I think he's gonna edge out a boring decision. I hope Doerkson twists him up like a pretzel, but I'm going with CB.

TJ Grant over Julio Paulino - I've seen a couple of Grant's fights and there is no quit in this guy. Very rarely will I pick a Canadian over a Brazilian, but in this case, I believe it's justified. Grant by decision.

Evan Dunham over Sean Sherk - This is the biggest test of Dunham's career. Former champ Sherk is a wrestling ball of muscle with surprising speed for his build. Dunham has superior striking and submission ability. If he can keep Sherk from ground and pounding his way to a decision, he'll take this fight. I believe he will.

Ryan Bader over Little Nog - Bader's talent is undeniable. He has awesome wrestling ability and lots of power in his hands. Nog's top notch jits hardly ever come into play because he loves to stand and trade. While Nog may have the edge in striking technique, speed and power go to Bader. Bader will stop Nog =(

Sean McCorkle over Mark Hunt - I'm a Hunt fan. If you don't know who he is, look him up in his epic series of fights with Jerome Le Banner in K1. Hunt is a very unassuming kickboxer with incredible ability. However, this is an MMA fight and Hunt is on something like a 4 fight losing streak. He doesn't submit opponents, nor does he do well to defend submission attempts. Unfortunately, I have to pick against the former PRIDE fighter.

Chris Lytle over Matt Serra - Even though Serra is an accredited jiu jitsu player, there will be no submission in this fight. Lytle has never been submitted. Lytle has good takedown defense and the better strikes. Lytle wins.

Steve Lopez over Waylon Lowe - Lopez came into the UFC with only one loss in 11 fights, due to split decision. He's good all around and lost his first UFC fight to a very game Jim Miller due to a shoulder injury. Waylon Lowe came in with a not-so-impressive record, and lost due to a knee to the midsection from Melvin Guillard. I don't know much about these guys, but I'm picking Lopez.

Thiago Tavares over Pat Audinwood - Because I don't know who Audinwood is, and Tavares has world class jits.

Crocop over Frank Mir - Going with the underdog in this one. Crocop is one of my all time favs, also a veteran of K1 and PRIDE, and I've wanted soooo badly to see him do well in the UFC. Mir's striking has improved dramatically, and there's no question that if it gets to the ground, Mir will probably stop the fight. I hafta go with my boy on this one, though. Crocop will STOP Mir. WAR CROCOP!

[shadowjunkie]

I like to call them as they're walking out.

That being said, I do think Mir is going to take Crocop.

118 though,

I really think BJ is in his prime and is still the best fighter in the world at his weight. I think, as a champ, he just hasn't been training to fight Edgar. I also believe that his strategy had big holes in it. BJ is a better boxer and grappler has better instincts, hands, chin and he's also quicker but the one thing Edgar has over BJ is cardio.

So Edgar's brilliant strategy was to dance around like a crazy man to make it hard for BJ to stick him. Pull off a takedown or two for points and stay the hell out of the strike zone and off the ground. The times they did hit the ground, Edgar was practically clawing his way away from BJ then back to dancing.

My group of MMA buffs out here have come to the conclusion that BJ should have taken the fight to Edgar the first 3 rounds. Get in the zone, chase, takedown and clinch against the cage; and hopefully Edgar will make a mistake. Then slide back into his "I'm better than you" stance and continue to outbox Edgar. At that point, even if Edgar does do the "just for points" takedowns it won't matter because BJ will (in a perfect world) have secured the first 3 rounds so that forces Edgar to go for broke and close with BJ to try and end the fight. Which ruins Edgar's strategy.

BJ seems to have surrounded himself with a bunch of yes men. 4 rounds to Edgar... they're saying stuff like "Keep it up." "You've got this BJ; you're a champion." Horrible. Just horrible.

But, I'm nigh on certain Maynard is going to take out Edgar, then BJ is going to reclaim the belt.

I was just freaking out that BJ didn't change his strat with 3 rounds Edgar. I don't know how disconnected he had to be from reality to continue what he was doing. Even in the 5th round with a minute to go he wasn't trying to end the fight. It was like he was thinking about stuff he had to do after the fight.

"Did I turn off the oven?" "I gotta remember to pick up that endorsement check, almost done here."