mutosufan
Fiance made him quit gambling
As everyone has heard this is the best top to bottom card in the history of not the UFC, but mma! Two title defenses, Tito vs. and up and coming undefeated fighter, the debut of a heavyweight stud imported from Pride and a nasty 155 lb Kenny Florian. This is just the live card! The undercard has Jorge Gurgel, lets hope he is injury free for a length of time now so everyone can see this guys jj. Stephan Bonnar fighting a lameduck, but nonetheless it should be entertaining, for the butcher not the cow. And Chris Lytle, though his opponent has changed more times than John Kerry's opinion.
Stephan Bonnar (9-4) vs. Mike Nickels (5-1)
If your local or book has the Bonnar/Nickels fight, load up on Bonnar. Coming off his suspension, being healthy (from all reports) coming back to try to win the fans that he lost from the steroid fiasco. He will come out swinging, kicking, elbowing. And winning easily. Nickels is not impressive.
Bonnar by TKO
Kenny Florian (5-3) vs. Alvin Robinson (8-1)
Florian will be the 1st live fight of the night. I dont know much about Alvin Robinson, but I dont think I need to. I love Florian as a fighter. His record is an unimpressive 5-3, however those 3 losses come from the hands of some very impressive fighters. The current LW Champion Sherk, Diego Sanchez and Drew Fickett. Not to bad. On the flip side, he has some decent wins against some fighters that I consider the gate keepers. Those are fighters that up and comers fight against to determine if the newbie is lower class, middle class or champion contender. Florian has shown that he can beat the gatekeepers, but hasnt pulled one out against the top tier talent. I am going with Florian if I can find a book that has it.
Florian by rear naked choke
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (29-4-1) vs. Heath Herring (27-12)
Not going to get too indepth with this one. Nogueria has already beat Herring TWICE in 2001 and 2004. Herring came to the UFC on a large contract from PRIDE. The UFC was hoping to get a contender and that got a lemon. I think the UFC is showing their hand by "throwing" Herring to Nogueria AGAIN. This is Nogeuria's 1st time in the octagon and this should be another submission in a fairly easy fight. Nog has been in and beat the best in the world minus Fedor. Horn, Cro Cop, Henderson, Barnett. Nog is going to be a major problem in the HW division with his submissions. Big men just are not use to this type of fighting.
Nog by submission
Tito Ortiz (15-5) vs. Rashad Evans (10-0)
Not a title fight, but the most talked about fight of the night.
Resumes:
Tito - Wanderlai Silva, Evan Tanner, Elvis Sinosic, Shamrock, Liddell, Cote Belfort, Metzger, Griffin, Matyushenko.
Evans - Imes, Hogar, Bonnar, Lambert, Salmon
Heads up:
Striking - Evans
Wrestling - even (Evans was not a great college wrestler)
Takedowns - Tito
GnP - Tito +
Cardio - Tito +
Speed - Evans
Strength - Tito barely
Tito has faught nothing but the best time and time and time again. He knows the business of the UFC. He knows how to sell tickets. He knows how to get into his opponents head. He has been there done that in the UFC. The hardest thing to learn in mma, imo, is training properly. Tito is the Godfather of cardio.
Evans is an up and comer. He is not there yet. His lackluster opponents are not his faught. To his credit he has beaten them all. But his best opponant, Bonnar, would rank right where Sinosic is on Tito's which is the bottom dweller.
Like I said, Tito knows how to train. No one does it better than Tito. Tito pushes the pace and is ready for a fight for however long it goes. He has been the main event time and time again. This is routine for him.
Evans has never been in this type of spotlight. He was the main event......of one of the free Spike shows against Salmon. The pressure that Evans has on him to remain undefeated, to move up the chain, being on the best card ever in mma, to beat the Huntington Beach Bad Boy will be overwhelming.
Tito is a bully inside the ring. He will look to punch Rashad immediatly, like he did Griffin. Rashad needs to come out throwing bombs to keep Tito at arms distance. Rashad will not have it in him to do this however. The walk to the octagon will be like none other he has had before. He will come out the 1st round very, very nervous and Tito will score at will here. This fight has a chance to be stopped in the 1st. We will see how many flush elbows Tito can get in and how Rashad can handle them. However I do think he will make it out of the 1st and.....................
make a decent fight of this. Rashad will win the 2nd once he gets his noodle legs shaken out and remember how Griffin stuffed Tito's takedowns. The 3rd will be owned by Tito because Rahsad has been known to suck wind later in fights. Tito will secure the win with a 29-28 decsion.
Tito by UD
Stephan Bonnar (9-4) vs. Mike Nickels (5-1)
If your local or book has the Bonnar/Nickels fight, load up on Bonnar. Coming off his suspension, being healthy (from all reports) coming back to try to win the fans that he lost from the steroid fiasco. He will come out swinging, kicking, elbowing. And winning easily. Nickels is not impressive.
Bonnar by TKO
Kenny Florian (5-3) vs. Alvin Robinson (8-1)
Florian will be the 1st live fight of the night. I dont know much about Alvin Robinson, but I dont think I need to. I love Florian as a fighter. His record is an unimpressive 5-3, however those 3 losses come from the hands of some very impressive fighters. The current LW Champion Sherk, Diego Sanchez and Drew Fickett. Not to bad. On the flip side, he has some decent wins against some fighters that I consider the gate keepers. Those are fighters that up and comers fight against to determine if the newbie is lower class, middle class or champion contender. Florian has shown that he can beat the gatekeepers, but hasnt pulled one out against the top tier talent. I am going with Florian if I can find a book that has it.
Florian by rear naked choke
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (29-4-1) vs. Heath Herring (27-12)
Not going to get too indepth with this one. Nogueria has already beat Herring TWICE in 2001 and 2004. Herring came to the UFC on a large contract from PRIDE. The UFC was hoping to get a contender and that got a lemon. I think the UFC is showing their hand by "throwing" Herring to Nogueria AGAIN. This is Nogeuria's 1st time in the octagon and this should be another submission in a fairly easy fight. Nog has been in and beat the best in the world minus Fedor. Horn, Cro Cop, Henderson, Barnett. Nog is going to be a major problem in the HW division with his submissions. Big men just are not use to this type of fighting.
Nog by submission
Tito Ortiz (15-5) vs. Rashad Evans (10-0)
Not a title fight, but the most talked about fight of the night.
Resumes:
Tito - Wanderlai Silva, Evan Tanner, Elvis Sinosic, Shamrock, Liddell, Cote Belfort, Metzger, Griffin, Matyushenko.
Evans - Imes, Hogar, Bonnar, Lambert, Salmon
Heads up:
Striking - Evans
Wrestling - even (Evans was not a great college wrestler)
Takedowns - Tito
GnP - Tito +
Cardio - Tito +
Speed - Evans
Strength - Tito barely
Tito has faught nothing but the best time and time and time again. He knows the business of the UFC. He knows how to sell tickets. He knows how to get into his opponents head. He has been there done that in the UFC. The hardest thing to learn in mma, imo, is training properly. Tito is the Godfather of cardio.
Evans is an up and comer. He is not there yet. His lackluster opponents are not his faught. To his credit he has beaten them all. But his best opponant, Bonnar, would rank right where Sinosic is on Tito's which is the bottom dweller.
Like I said, Tito knows how to train. No one does it better than Tito. Tito pushes the pace and is ready for a fight for however long it goes. He has been the main event time and time again. This is routine for him.
Evans has never been in this type of spotlight. He was the main event......of one of the free Spike shows against Salmon. The pressure that Evans has on him to remain undefeated, to move up the chain, being on the best card ever in mma, to beat the Huntington Beach Bad Boy will be overwhelming.
Tito is a bully inside the ring. He will look to punch Rashad immediatly, like he did Griffin. Rashad needs to come out throwing bombs to keep Tito at arms distance. Rashad will not have it in him to do this however. The walk to the octagon will be like none other he has had before. He will come out the 1st round very, very nervous and Tito will score at will here. This fight has a chance to be stopped in the 1st. We will see how many flush elbows Tito can get in and how Rashad can handle them. However I do think he will make it out of the 1st and.....................
make a decent fight of this. Rashad will win the 2nd once he gets his noodle legs shaken out and remember how Griffin stuffed Tito's takedowns. The 3rd will be owned by Tito because Rahsad has been known to suck wind later in fights. Tito will secure the win with a 29-28 decsion.
Tito by UD