Archive for December, 2007
Ok am I the only person that is still mourning Big John’s absence from this sport. The WEC card this Wednesday is stacked and that was the first that hit my mind. Ok personal things aside this card is stacked and I am surprised it hasn’t been promoted more. On this card we have old and new fighters. As Big John USED to say, “Lets get it on”.
RESULTS: Alot of first round fights. I had to actualltry and think if any of them went past the first round and a couple did. Good action in the WEC and hopefully we can see more of this.
Urijah Faber Vs. Jeff Curran
(Urijah Faber Wins by Submission (Choke) at 4:34 in the 2nd round by guillotine choke)
RESULTS: Really cool fight Curran had some pretty good control right off the bat and then got Fabers back, but just sat there for two minutes not able to tdo anything. Faber was pretty calm during the whole thing just conserving his energy for what was to come. Then in the second round they clinched around a bit and Faber threw a one legged knee to the face while Curran had his other leg. It was wild and Frank Mir was ecstatic saying that Faber was making up all kinds of new moves. Curran just made a bad mistake and Faber caught his head and then was able to lock it in with only one leg, but that was enough as Curran tapped out. Not bad one of the first people in a while to bring the champ into the second round.
Ok everywhere everyone is saying that that Faber is gonna be tested by this VETERAN of MMA. I mean he has more fights but come on. In Curran’s last fight he was touted as the Veteran against a newcomer. Currans last fight was pretty flat with nothing to exciting. He is going up against Faber, fireworks Faber! Ok that’s not his nickname, but it should be. Faber’s pace and his uncanny ability to win each fight no matter what his opponent comes up with is what will keep him the champ. I know what some people might be thinking, oh its about time for this long MMA champ to mess up and get caught. After all he might be letting all the hype get to him and will contribute to a loss. Nope, this kid has been featured on TV with a look at his maturity and will to stay the champ. I am thinking Curran will get a take down on skill alone, but Faber will use his explosiveness to reverse something and unload a TKO big frog style. I am going with Faber winning via TKO in the second.
Cub Swanson Vs. Jens Pulver
(Jens Pulver Wins by Submission (Choke) at 0:35 in the 1st round)
RESULTS: Man what an explosive quick match. Jens looked game and Cub didn’t seem to have much of a game plan. Cub immediately tried to take Jens down and Jens secured kind of an upside down RNC and then Cub kept tring to counter flip, but he only made it worse. The announcer called it an Anaconda choke, but it was a little bit of everything if I had to guess. Really cool to see Jens win and I hope it will keep him motivated to train hard for the next big fight, which will probably be Faber.
I along with everyone is excited to see the Pulver get back in the ring. His last performance against BJ was a little uncharacteristic and left me a little confused. I if something else wasn’t a factor in that fight. Enough excuses, I hope Pulver like he says will have trained hard for this fight. Cub is young quick and dangerous. I hope Jens can use his experience to ride the wave in the beginning of this fight. I think if played smart Jens will win via decision.
Paulo Filho Vs. Chael Sonnen
(Paulo Filho Wins by Submission (Arm Lock) at 4:55 in the 2nd round by arm bar)
RESULTS: Wow I was real impressed with Sonnen. He threw Filho around like a rag doll. At one time he slammed him so hard on the mat that Sonnen yelled at the ref, “He’s out, He’s out). Sonnen shouldn’t have been so concentrated on the ref and tried to finish it right there. That may have been his only chance to win. Lucky for Filho he was able use his BJJ to keep from taking any real major damage after the hard slam. Sonnen was just a little to comfortable laying in his guard and after Filho attempted one arm and missed he tried another and got it tight. Sonnen didn’t tap, but the ref stopped it. While I don’t agree with refs stopping a fight before a guy taps the writing was on the wall with this one and I don’t think he was getting out.
Well, Paulo is said to be the best middle weight in the world. this fight will define him and solidify his place in all the naysayers that are still left out there. I loved his telephone pole training tires. I think Sonnen is in for a rude awakening. All these wrestlers think they do so good in MMA until they get punched by someone that can hit hard. Paulo has some sick BJJ as well. I am not sure what Sonnen will get caught in, but I think it will be in quick fashion much like Filho’s first fight. Maybe Filho wins via submission in the second round.
John Alessio Vs. Todd Moore
(John Alessio Wins by Unanimous Decision at 5:00 in the 3rd round)
RESULTS: I didn’t get to see this one, but hopefully I will be able to find it on the Internet. I am sure it was a WAR.
This is gonna be such a cool fight. Moore is from Houston and he just recently signed a contract with WEC. Alessio had a lackluster performance in his last fight on a WEC card. That game plan will not keep him alive when he is sharing a ring with Moore. This guy will take you down stay on top and keep hitting you with elbows until you either tap from pain or you get knocked out. Moore via TKO in the first round.
Doug Marshall Vs. Ariel Gandulla
(Doug Marshall Wins by Submission (Arm Lock) at 0:55 in the 1st round by arm bar)
RESULTS: Doug didn’t seem to mind going for the arm bar that Ariel gave him. Doug said he wanted to win this one via triangle choke, but switched to an arm bar instead to finish it.
Bryan Baker Vs. Eric Schambari
(Bryan Baker Wins by Split Decision at 5:00 in the 3rd round )
Alex Karalexis Vs. Ed Ratcliff
(Ed Ratcliff Wins by Technical Knock Out at 1:26 in the 2nd round )
Ian McCall Vs. Charlie Valencia
(Charlie Valencia Wins by Submission (Choke) at 3:19 in the 1st round by guillotine choke)
RESULTS: Charlie beat this guy up pretty good. Ian didn’t keep his hands up enough while Charlie landed alot of the same punched over and over again. He could have easily TKO this guy, but opted for the safer finish and took the choke that Ian gave him.
Brian Bowles Vs. Marcos Galvao
(Brian Bowles Wins by Technical Knock Out at 2:09 in the 2nd round)
RESULTS: Brian may not have alot of MMA pro matches, but you would never know with the way this guy brings it in the ring. He blasted this guy standing up pretty good most of the first and then his corner man (Rory Singer) told him to come with the over hand right in the second. This proved to be right as Brain blasted him into an oblivion.
It is stated in the Korea times today that Choi’s rep FEG will announce at the end of the week if this fight will happen. Lets all cross our fingers.
“The deal-breaker for the Choi-Emelianenko match up could be the fight rules.
Choi, a K-1 fighter, wants a stand-up fight, while Emelianenko, the former PRIDE
champion, prefers fighting under MMA rules that allow striking, grappling and
ground fighting.”
Deal-breaker? If I had to guess I would think Choi wants any rule that would keep him out of the ring entirely. After reading further in this article it gets even worse.
Choi is still licking the wounds from his embarrassing loss to LeBanner
Saturday, when he barely threatened the hard-hitting Frenchman and was fortunate to avoid a knockout. The loss was especially embarrassing since it was the first match since Choi turned himself into a national joke last month by releasing a
hip-hop album with model and wannabe pop star Kang Su-hui, although LeBanner
would surely say he did well for a singer.
Wow, that’s it in a nutshell. Not only did this guy just lose badly, but he likes to rap K-style. Check out the video of his last fight. With the way Fedor looks half asleep when he enters the ring usually, I think Choi might make him doze off completely.
Jerome Le Banner VS. Hong Man Choi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3IlfhmBpn0
Article Source:
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2007/12/136_15367.html
Pic Source:
http://ivynews.kr/news/news_main.html?number=16&code=feature
Roger Huerta Vs. Clay Guida
(Roger Huerta Wins by Submission (Choke) at 0:51 in the 3rd round by rear naked choke.)
RESULTS: This was an awesome fight and went alot liek I thought. I did however think Huerta would kick in around the second, but he took a while on this one. You could see the determination start to boil over out of his mouth at the start of the third as he was getting ready for another round. I wish I had the footage of that. He gritted his teeth and looked pissed. He went in a knocked Guida around landing a good knee that dazed Guida enough for Huerta to get the RNC. Easily fight of the night, but I think the Jrock fight was a close tie.
This is gonna be a cool fight. I have counted Huerta out of to many fights. I will not count him out anymore. he has proven me wrong to many times. The dude is so solid and can find a way to win in every fight. Look at his last three fights and if you looks closely you will see that he always seems to get overwhelmed in the first round against his opponent, but then comes out in the second and dominates. Guida will be one of his first hard fights, but don’t be surprised to see Huerta lose the first round. It seems like his MO now for some reason. Not the the other guys didn’t challenge him, but Guida is a non stop animal when in the cage. Guida has one small problem with finishing fights so that is a big reason why I will have to pick Huerta winning via decision.
Tommy Speer Vs. Mac Danzig
(Mac Danzig Wins by Submission (Choke) at 2:01 in the 1st round by rear naked choke.)
RESULTS: Man this went bad quick. I was pretty surprised to see a much smaller MAc take Tommy down and get him to his back. I really thought Tommy would learn alot more in the six or so month he was off from the show. Mac did what he came there to do and no he is headed for lightweight.
I feel pretty good about both of these guys ending up in the finals. I never thought George was as great as everyone seemed to hype him on the show. I just figured they all saw more during practices that we as viewers were not prevy to. After seeing him freeze up and get Ko’ed I felt pretty good about my assessment. I was really impressed with his follow up shot after he initially dazed George. Alot of guys would miss alot on follow up shots from being so excited, but he seemed to land alot of shots and wasn’t to concerned with making each one a haymaker. Tommy has alot of power and if his technique will get caught up with his heart and power he will be a force to be reckoned with. Hopefully he has been learning alot at the HITS training place. Danzig on the other hand seems to find a way to win fights. He keeps cool and doesn’t get to overwhelmed and finds ways to exploit his opponents game. I didn’t see him show any super strength in any area though. Good and well rounded, but he wasn’t exactly a show stopper in his TUF fights. I am gonna go with Tommy doing a repeat of his fight with George. In some way or another he will daze Mac and finish him off. Tommy wins via TKO in second.
Jared Rollins Vs. John Koppenhaver
(John Koppenhaver Wins by Technical Knock Out at 2:01 in the 3rd round)
RESULTS: Man this was a war. Such a back and forth battle. There were so many times I counted War Machine out and was waiting for the ref to step in. So many times War Machine looked gassed, but in the very end he swept Jrock and blasted him with everything he had left. I really think Jrock just had nothing left and gassed while he took all the punches from War Machine. Great fight and war. Jrock had some sick elbows from the bottom that opened up War Machines head on the top.
Jared has alot of power. For a brief second we saw it in his TUF fight, but he fought stupid and lost his gameplan. John seems to have his wits and game plan good until he gets hit in the face. I really don’t know who is gonna hit first, but I would go with that guy winning. Lets say Jared wins via decision.
Billy Miles Vs. George Sotiropoulos
(George Sotiropoulos Wins by Submission (Choke) at 1:36 in the 1st round by rear naked choke)
RESULTS: This went pretty much how I thought but George decided to go for the clean finish via RNC.
Billy was not to hot in his TUF fight. Im not saying George is the best, but he is alot better than Billy. George via TKO in the second.
Ben Saunders Vs. Dan Barrera
(Ben Saunders Wins by Unanimous Decision at 5:00 in the 3rd round)
RESULTS: Dan looked like he didn’t learn one thing since he lef tthe show. I really though he would look better. All he did was take Ben down even taking some hard knee shots to the head while doing so. Pretty boring and I think Ben won strictly on strikes.
This will be cool to see a sequel to this fight. I think Barrera could have won if he didn’t keep freezing up. I figured it was just due to in-experience and he should have his act together by this finale. Barrera also has so much to add to his fight game that I think he will improve alot by the time this finale hits. I believe the Saunders we saw on the show is probably the Saunders we will see again. Barrera via TKO in the first round.
Other Fights
Matt Arroyo Vs. John Kolosci (I wonder how he set up to the arm bar)
Matt Arroyo Wins by Submission (Arm Lock) at 4:42 in the 1st round by arm bar
Roman Mitichyan Vs. Dorian Price (Damn dude needs to work on his ground game)
Roman Mitichyan Wins by Submission (Leg Lock) at 0:23 in the 1st round by ankle lock.
Paul Georgieff Vs. Jonathan Goulet ( I am glad to see Goulet win one :-))
Jonathan Goulet Wins by Submission (Choke) at 4:42 in the 1st round by rear naked choke.
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