UFC 73

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



 
Great write ups and I agree with all your picks...mine are:

Florian (-315) 3.15/1
Franca (+230) 1/2.3
Nickels (+389) 1/3.89
Silva (-163) 3.26/2
Ortiz (-113) 3.39/3

Nickels for the price and in case Bonnar is not waht he should be...Franca could be a tough match up with Sherk...Ortiz GnPs him to death...if it stays to striking Ortiz goes bye-bye...Florian an animal...Silva in a close pick.

Nice card, huh?
 
UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva (18-4) vs. Nathan Marquardt (25-6-2)

Marquardt is a legend in KOP being 6-7 time champion. That is impressive. Marquardt is top tier talent anywhere in the octagon. Standing, grappling, submissions. An aspect about Marquardt that many fail to realize is Marquardt avoids damage from his back and on his feet. Very elusive. He has heavy enough hands to keep Silva at bay and good enough GnP to wear Silva down and good defense to fend off any attacks. Silva destroyed Franklin. No question. But was it skill based or implementation of a terrible gameplan (hindsight is always 20/20). I am going with the latter. I will have to see them fight again before I say Silva is dominate over RF. The Lutter fight, we were a good training camp away from seeing Lutter v Marquardt. Cutting upwards of 22 lbs in a day ans still not making weight destoys the body and mind. (Rumors are he cut 22 lbs the day of wigh-ins--trainer needs to be fired!) Lutter walked out of the dressing room and you could tell he was not there. Embarassed, tired, defeated. And he still came an inch from TKO'ing Silva. Fill mount raining down "bombs", I use that loosely. However Silva did come out victorious. Marquardt will not clinch with Silva. If they do go to the clinch watch for Marquardt to attack first and often to put Silva on the defensive. It is hard to go against Silva as I coulc very well see Marquardt getting cought in an arm bar because I feel like Silva will end up on his back.

Marquardt by decision



Sean Sherk (31-2-1) vs. Hermes Franca (18-5)


Sherk is probably the most business like attitude in the ring that the UFC has. He walks to the octagon like we walk across the street to the office. Outside of Tito there is no one close to the cardio fitness that he attains. Franca is nasty in BJJ and his standup is not bad. Very awkward. Shek is almost for sure to lay him on his back and pound out points. With the short arms and the massive amount of muscle that Sherk possesses I dont see Franca being able to submit him from a limb. About the only way I see Franca being able to pull out a "W" is by submission via rear naked choke. Sherk is just too strong and Franca doesnt have enough in his hands. (Penn will be the next LW champion when he meets Sherk in the next fight. Penn is that good in BJJ)

Sherk by UD
 
Florian is one of my favorites, always nice to watch him live. I just hope Tito will just fucking retire.

Not another Tito hater? I am a fan of Tito, but I do think he needs to keep his mouth shut sometimes. He was supposedly complaing about not getting enough press for this fight. Heck he is not even 1 of the top 2 fights and he is still get headliner press. He needs to shoosh it sometimes.

I agree that Florian is nasty and just getting better. I am looking foward to seeing him fight some more.
 
Liquid...this card is nasty. The commom viewer probably doesnt know too much about Nog or Florian, but every "live" fight is loaded with talent. We are probably going to start seeing these type of cards.

I was thinking that they might give us a UFC 72 card more frequently to spread the talent out. Kinda like boxing. One main event and then up and comers. But it doesnt look that way.

UFC 74:

Main Event:
UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture (15-8) vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (8-1)
Undercard:
170 lbs.: Georges St. Pierre (13-2) vs. Josh Koscheck (9-1)
170 lbs.: Diego Sanchez vs. TBA*
155 lbs.: Joe Stevenson (27-7) vs. Kurt Pellegrino (10-2)*
205 lbs.: Renato “Babalu” Sobral (27-7) vs. David Heath (7-1)*
185 lbs.: Travis Lutter (9-4) vs. Ryan Jensen (11-1)*
185 lbs.: Kendall Grove (8-3) vs. Patrick Cote (10-4)*

UFC 75

UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (27-6) vs. Dan Henderson (22-5)
Undercard:
Hvywt.: Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic (22-5-2) vs. Cheick Kongo (10-3-1)
205 lbs.: Michael Bisping (13-0) vs. Matt Hamill (3-0)
205 lbs.: Alessio Sakara (11-5) vs. Houston Alexander (7-1)*
170 lbs.: Marcus Davis (12-3) vs. Paul Taylor (8-1-1)*
170 lbs.: Jess Liaudin (11-8) vs. TBA*
170 lbs.: Dennis Siver (10-4) vs. TBA*

Two pretty nice cards.

UFC 74: Kendall Grove will KILL Patrick Cote
UFC 75: Bisping vs Hammill looks killer.

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I am with you on the KG will kill PC. I think Grove is a hard match up. And I dont think Cote will have much of an answer for him.

I also think Hamill will get beat pretty badly. I have not seen him fight since TUF, but I was not too impressed with him. Decent, hard worker, fell good story, but I didnt think much of his skill set.
 
mutosufan nice writeups & info man! thanks a ton!

curious though.... what are those other sites that you have always posted with writeups and such for the matches. i always enjoy reading those as well...
 
mutosufan nice writeups & info man! thanks a ton!

curious though.... what are those other sites that you have always posted with writeups and such for the matches. i always enjoy reading those as well...

Thanks :shake:

I am trying to give back some here as I really dont post much about bases or hoops. More football and mma. I enjoy talking about it because not too many people I am around watch it or know anything about it. My fiance is probably the most interested out of all.

The sites you are talking about have not released any predictions or write ups on the fights yet. Should be out tomorrow. Ahhh I was writing this and they came out. Here ya go.

http://ufcmania.com/2007/07/05/ufc-73-betting-odds-free-tips-and-advice-from-desert-dog/

http://ufcjunkie.com/2007/07/05/performifys-picks-for-ufc-73/

EDIT: Also the guys that wrote those articles also bet according to value. I am not a big value better. I do some, but not often. I am not a fan of taking Franca because as good as he is +225 is just too juicy. I would rather eat the juice and take, what I tihnk, is the better fighter that should win. I also will take a heavy favorite, Nog for example, and parlay it with anotehr fighter or a bases game to eliviate the juice.
 
This is an extemely difficult card to pick. Marquardt/SIlva - Tito/Evans - Sherk/Franca could go either way with not too much of a surprise.
 
More analysis.

I am leaving work early to see the weigh-ins. ESPNEWS @ 7 p.m. Tito/Evans should be an interesting staredown. You can, IMO, get a feel of the fighters during the weigh-ins. I had Rampage over Chuck all along, just want sure if I was going to bet it. After the weigh-ins, I went ahead and bet Rampage. Liddell wanted nothing to do with him on that stage. Rampage was wanting to get a little talk going in Chuck's ear and Chuck wsa just trying to get his pants on and not look at him. It was interesting.

http://ufcmania.com/2007/07/05/ufc-73-quick-preview-analysis-and-predictions/#more-2657
 
Here's what I got for tommorrow

TITO ORTIZ -107 to win 3 units
KEN FLO -244 to win 5 units
Franca 233 3 units
Spider Silva -152 to win 3 units

Ortiz by UD, Ken Flo 2nd round sub, Franca 2nd round TKO, Silva 2nd round TKO. My card looks a lot like Santas so good luck to us.

Here's what I got for the future

UFC 74 Gabriel Gonzaga -129 to win 5 units I took Randy when he was nearly +200 against Silvia but I think this will easily be Gonzagas
CFC 6 Tank Abbott 229 5 units (believe!) have to take Tank at these odds against Kimbo Slice. I had Kimbo at -170 against Mercer. Tank has fought in MMA and I believe him to be a much bigger threat to Kimbo but who knows how he'll train/look going into this one.
 
Watched the weigh-ins.

Outside of the HWs, everyone came into this 100% shredded! Silva wasnt but that is just him. That soesnt mean anythin with him.

I might have a change of heart in 1 of the fights and a more solid postion on another. I am going to have to look up some old weigh-ins.

I feel more solid on the Tito/Evans fight. I kind of got the impression that Evans is trying to convince himself that he isnt nervous, anxious, etc. Trying to hard to show Tito up. When they went towars each other for the picture, Evans just had to be the first one off at the mouth. And then yesterday at the pressers, they said that he made a total ass of himeself. Then they stood next to one another and Tito looked huge compared to him. A little extra on Tito for me.

And then the Silva/Marquardt matchup. This is the one thatI have to look up some old weigh-ins. Marquardt came in at 182.5. That is 2 1/2 lbs under the MW weight. That is quite a difference! Silva came in at 185.5. I am afraid to see Marquardt's old fight weights at 185 and this might be an indication of over training. Which equals not a very good camp. I will be back with my findings.
 
I just found his last weigh in results and he went in at 185.5. Hmmmmm
Anyone out there have any thoughts on the over training?
 
There is some talk over on the some of my mma sites that are talking about the over training possibility.

All the title fight fighters came in UNDER their weight limit. They have no room for error like the nontitle fighters have 1 lb.

Could also mean that Nate is going to really try to get this into the 4th and 5th round with his superior conditioning. He wil do that will his great leg kicks. There is a buzz about Silva walking with a limp. If that is the case, Nate has a good chance to cut him down at the legs.

I am still going to play Nate, I think.
 
Nog/Bonnar/Sherk @ -101 1 unit to win 2 units
Nog/Marquardt @ +300 .6 units to win 1.8 units
Tito @ -110 2 units to win 2 units

That's what I have
 
Tito's line is currently +105 at Pinnacle. Why is it so much better there as opposed to other places? Also, did something happne recently to make $$ shift to Evans?
 
Pics of the weigh-ins.

http://69.46.29.2:8080/absoluteig/gallery.asp?categoryid=2499

Sportsinteraction, as of 10 a.m. today still had Tito @ -125 and Evans @ 100.

And VIP had Tito @ -110 and Evnas @ -125

Some have been saying that the public $$$ is on Evans and the business is on Tito. I cant quantitate that though.

People dont like Tito and I think that brings money in on his opposition. Gives them another reason to go against him. Just MO.

People need to remember that Tito effectively out boxed or held his own with Chuck for 2 rounds in the 2nd fight. RE is not Chuck Liddell. I am not saying Tito is a lock, but I think he is the right side.
 
Randy Couture took Rashad Evans to win. His pick could have an affect on the line as Randy has picked a lot of winners and a lot of ppl believe his picks to be solid.
 
Adding
Ortiz +110 2 units
Silva -139 2 units
Going all out tonight, can't wait for this to start, GL everyone!
 
Adding
Ortiz +110 2 units
Silva -139 2 units
Going all out tonight, can't wait for this to start, GL everyone!

The more I look at things the more I like Tito.

And I cant argue with the Silva pick. There is no justification to say that you are on the wrong side. This is toough. As you know I went with NM.

I am pumped about tonight. Leaviong work early to go ahead and get started on the pregame. :drinking:

GL and enjoy the best mma card to ever be put together. :bow:
 
Franca -3 units Sherk was too strong, couldn't believe those knees didnt knock him out any other fighter in the light weight div have been knocked out. Sherk was able to stay of his feet and take Franca down after taking one of those huge knees which was amazing. Sherk must have had 10 pounds on Franca.
I would really like to see BJ Penn fight Sherk at 155. BJs probably the only one who can beat Sherk at this point.

Ortiz even Tito was gassed in that final round and I think the last couple minutes especially that final take down solidified the draw. Thought Evans would gas before Tito.

Florian +5 units Ken "Finishes Fights" at 155 nice TKO in the first round. Unfortunately, I think he'll lose to Sherk again if he fights him next. Ken looked small in that fight and Sherk would overpower him.

Silva +5 units definitly one of the most entertaining fighters. I laughed at his crazy scissor kick or whatever it was early on, its strange he would attempt something like that which makes him very succeptable to be taken to the ground. Silvas striking looked amazing as always he can knock guys out from pretty much any position.
LOL at the look on Rich Franklyns face after the fight. He knows another ass kicking awaits him.

OVERALL 2-1-1 + 7 units
Looks like everyone was in the positive today, cant wait till UFC 74!
 
Overall +2 units for me since I put 2 on Diego Saraiva since we used to train at the same gym together in Atlanta. Woulda been +4 if I would have avoided the homer pick.
 
Great night of fights. Many go into mma events and want to see a toughman competition. So the 3/4 fights going to the judges didnt bother me as they were pretty active fights.

Nog/Herring

1st live fight. Cant believe, actually I can, they didnt stop the fight with that head kick and then 2 hammer fists. If that was someone that was not making their debut and as acclaimed as Nog is, it would have been stopped.

Sherk/Franca

I am with you Z, how Sherk didnt get KO'ed with those knees is amazing and impressive. I am so impressed with how Sherk closes the distance like he does when Franca woould finally make it up off the floor. Relentless. Sherk wasnt doing serious damage while on top, but he had to be destroying Franca mentally. How frustraing that had to be. Penn is the only one with a chance, and after last night, I dont know. Penn has heavier hands than Franca and better BJJ, but should be good.

Ortiz/Evans

I still think Ortiz was the right side. Won the 1st, won the 2nd but got -1 for holding the cage, and the 3rd Evans won.
Here is my point, I felt like tTito won 4 minutes and 30 seconds of the 3rd round and Evans won the final 30 seconds. I dont have too big a problem with the draw, but looking at the facts that Evans would not engage, Tito pushed the pace for 3 rounds, the more aggressive, chased Evans around the ring and won more minutes than Evans, I would have liked to see Tito to win.

Silva/Marquardt

Silva got him with a straight left and it was over. Not much to say. He will be fighting Rich in Cincy later this year.
 
2-2-1 +1 Unit

Not enough prelims because of most fights going the distance...had a shitty night personally wiht a neighbor going to hospital again...long story...just finished watching the event.

Great analysis by us all...keep it up.
 
2-1-1 +1.7 units

True Liquid, had some good info going on. I post over on an Ohio State board and when a UFC event comes up someone always makes an off topic thread. For some reason, which it is just the "in" thing to do now and people want to act like they are more knowledgeable than others, the past 2 events q person each time has come in and said you are an idiot, f'ing stupid. They say they know this and that about UFC, mma .

Anyways what I am trying to get at is not much discussion. Though I have made both of them look like idiots. And it isnt just I think fighter A will win and they think fighter B. That makes for decent conversation why we differ on who will win. Lets keep that going here.

Since the UFC is starting to churn out events every 4-5 weeks and there are a few oif us that seem to enjoy it, I am going to go ahead a start threads on the events and post info as I find it for that event.
 
sounds good mutosu. i enjoy all the info. & analysis you and others have provided about the UFC/mma. i am a big fan and have been watching since i was young. i would always rent the original UFC events when they came out at Blockbuster on VHS back in the day.

i'll try to join in the discussions some more for sure!
 
how in the world does Tito Ortiz get so much freakin' money??? what kind of contract did that boy sign!?!?!

i understand he is a big name player and a big draw for the UFC, but he made $210k for a fight where he was the #3 fight on the card and no belt was even on the line!!! not only that Rashad Evans, the guy he faced who is undefeated, only made $16k!!!!

both champs who fought (silva & sherk) didn't even make close to $210k, and they both won their fights!!!! silva only gets 45k (+45K more for the win) and sherk only gets 14k (+14k more for the win)???? what gives???

i dont see how that is even remotely fair for the guys who actually have belts, or for Evans who even if he won wouldn't have even come close to being paid what Tito gets just for taking the fight.....
 
I agree with most of what you said Mogo except for the Tito stuff. I guarantee a few thousand more people bought the ppv fight just because Tito was on there. At $40 bucks a pop, they easily covered his increased salary. I don't necessarily agree with it but theres no doubt Tito draws a crowd. Although after the last fight, he may not draw as big in the future. What suprises me is the salary for Nogueira, I understand he was big in Pride but feel he should have to work is way up a little. Silva gets 90k and Nogueira gets 200k, doesn't make sense to me. Plus Herring should have knocked him out (one of weirdest moments of the night). Everytime these salaries are released there is a huge discussion on all the mma boards and this one is no different. anyway my two cents....
 
Tito fraws in fans and PPV buys.
Some of those payouts are ridculous..but they are getting better.
 
Hey ben, you said that "Herring should have knocked him out," HE DID KNOCK HIM OUT. LOL It was crazy. If that would have been the Bonnar/Nickels fight, it would have been stopped. Definately weird. I held my breath because I had Nogueira in my 2 parlays.

The contracts is a touchy subject amongst the fighters. The UFC fighters have always been under paid. That is why Tito had a falling out with the production and to a hiatus from the sport. People hate him for that, but I totally am on his side. It is kind of like the mill workers back in the Hoffa ere. Underpaid but production and distribution is way, way up.

You have the established fighters(Franklin, Sherk, Sylvia) already under a 3-4-5 however many fight conract. It was signed back when the UFC was starting to ascend. Then you have the newer fighters (Griffin, Jardine, Sanchez) that have signed their contracts during the meteoric rise of the UFC. Now we have the PRIDE greats signing contracts as "free-agents." They are being offered top dollar contracts to make the UFC an incredible organization. BODOG fights is trying to estabish itself as a player and the fighters are taking advantage of a very loose pocketed Calvin Ayer, BODOG promoter, owner, something. He has taken in Matt Lindland and Fedor. These fighters from PRIDE are pitting them against one another. BODOG wont be able to keep pace.

That is how I see it. Once these contracts run out, watch out for the numbers. Dana knows it too.
 
Forty-eight hours after Rashad Evans and Tito Ortiz’s dramatic — and somewhat disappointing — draw at Saturday’s UFC 73 event, UFCjunkie.com (www.ufcjunkie.com) has learned that their rematch will take Oct. 20 at the UFC 77 event that’s set for Cincinnati, Ohio.
Earlier today, UFCjunkie.com confirmed the date with a representative from Evans’ camp.
Despite two title fights and the Octagon debut of a former PRIDE heavyweight champion, it was Ortiz (15-5-1 MMA, 14-5-1 UFC) and Evans (10-0-1 MMA, 5-0-1 UFC) who remained the focus of this past weekend’s pay-per-view event. The former UFC light heavyweight champion and his undefeated opponent stole the headlines, secured top billing in the event’s marketing materials, and even became the focus of the night’s post-event press conference.
During that media event, UFC president Dana White stated — rather definitively — that a rematch was imminent and that neither fighter would be booked for another event before the rematch takes place.
As it turns out, the UFC wasted no time scheduling the date. UFC 77 takes place Oct. 20 at U.S. Bank Arena in downtown Cincinnati. The arena can accommodate approximately 17,000 spectators.
Just like this past weekend, Evans vs. Ortiz II may steal some of the spotlight from what is supposed to be UFC 77’s real main event: current UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva vs. Rich Franklin, who will meet in another anticipated rematch. In October 2006, Silva defeated then-champ Franklin with a first-round TKO to claim the middleweight championship.
Franklin, a former Cincinnati high school math teacher, will look to reclaim his title in front of a hometown crowd.
For the latest news about UFC 77, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of UFCjunkie.com.
 
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