WEC 51 Preview and Predictions

Following UFC 119, a lot of MMA fans were left in disgust in the wake of both poor judging and poor overall fighting. Watching 4 of the 5 main card bouts go to decision is an extenuating task for even the most hardcore of fans, including myself. But when the main event sports two guys pushing each other against a fence and even talking to one another at times, that's just upsetting. Unfortunately this is the result of the UFC's current flooding of the market. With shows on Spike, Versus, and PPV events seemingly occurring every two weeks, the UFC is left with the occasional dull card. Luckily we have been blessed with the WEC.

Owned by Zuffa, WEC is the sister promotion of the UFC. While the UFC boasts five weight classes from 155 to 265 lbs, WEC focuses on the lighter weight classes, bantamweight (135), featherweight (145) and lightweight (155). While once merely considered a farm system for potential UFC talent, the WEC has recently been flooded with talent is now the home of some of the best fighters in the world at these weights.

One of the things I like most about WEC is while they have a plethora of talent, they only hold events every 6-8 weeks, unlike the UFC which has an event every 2-3 weeks. By doing this, the promotion is able to allow their fighters sufficient rest in between events, and also ensure that each main card has the top talent in the vision. This is something very reminiscent how former Japanese promotion Pride conducted business. By holding events every couple of mo

nths, it allowed their fighters plenty of time to recover and train. Each of their cards would feature several of the best fighters in the world, at that time at least. (fights include Wanderlei Silva, Mirko CroCop, Fedor, Shogun, Takanori Gomi, Sakuraba, Kawajiri)

That is just a little intro for those of you who are unfamiliar with the WEC. So without further ado, here is the card we have been blessed with tomorrow night.

WEC 51: Aldo vs Gamburyan

Mark Hominick vs Leonard Garcia

If you have never

heard of Leonard Garcia, this kid is a fighter, as pure as they come. Look up his fights against Roger Huerta, Jens Pulver, Hiroyuki Takaya and especially Chan Sung Jung. Once Garcia is in the cage, he is coming at you with arms swinging.

Hominick on the other hand is a more disciplined Muay Thai Kickboxer. At the same time he is scrappy as hell and always down to bang. Check out his last fight against Yves Jabouin (trains with GSP in Montreal). Hominick is only 28 but has been around for a while. He has experience in the UFC, and has good cardio as well as a good chin.

I fully expect these two to come out and throw down on the feet to start this bout. Look for Hominick to utilize kicks and stay out of Garcia's reach. If Leonard is able to land just one of his winging haymakers, it could mean the end of the night for Hominick. In the case that Hominick does get into trouble on the feet, he has shown in the past the composure to eat a shot and work for a takedown. He has a very active ground game which

could ultimately be Garcia's downfall. I see Hominick controlling this one on the feet, but there is always the chance of Garcia landing that home run shot. Should be a great fight.

Chan Sung Jung vs George Roop

The "Korean Zombie", or so he has been dubbed, has taken the MMA world by storm this year. After Chan's bout with Leonard Garcia in April, fans have been dying to see him in action again. Given the nickname due to his ability to absorb punishment and continue to come forward, KZ lost a split decision to Garcia in which many fans felt the Korean had earned the victory.

Roop is an alumn of the UFC's television series The Ultimate Fighter: Season 8. After a couple of poor showings in the UFC, Roop dropped down to 145lbs and entered the WEC. He earned Fight of the Night honors against Leonard Garcia for their bout which went to a Draw last March.

Chan showed a great ability to take punishment in his last fight against Garcia, and he won't have to worry about nearly as much damage this time around, as Roop is a lankier fighter who throws his punches more to annoy you than to knock you out (similar to how Nick Diaz fights). When Roop has been su

ccessful, it has been when he uses his long reach to keep his opponents at bay, and pepper them with his jab and combinations. Unfortunately for him, the Zombie will continue to push forward and attack, setting a relentless pace. Roop has shown a tendency to become flustered when he has pressure applied to him, and that's almost exactly what awaits him in this fight. Look for the Korean Zombie to pick up his first win in the WEC via impressive TKO.

Miguel Torres vs Charlie Valencia

If you think the card sounds good so far, we're only just getting started. These two guys are in the top 10 of their weight class (135lbs). Miguel Torres, the former bantamweight champion, is coming off of 2 losses. Before that, he was 37-1. This guy is no choke. And he is hungry as ever right now to prove he still belongs near the top of the division. He has an absolutely lethal ground game, as well as very precise stand up, utilizing great angles to pick apart his opponents. UFC HW fighter Frank Mir, who is also a play by play commentator for the WEC, has shown ridiculous admiration of Torres, saying he is one of the most gifted fighters he's ever seen.

Valencia has been around the WEC for a few years now, but has come up short against any legitimate oppo

sition. Having strung together three wins in his last three fights, Valencia has earned himself another shot at an upper level opponent.

While Valencia is improving, he still is not quite on the same level as the elite in this division. And although Torres is coming off of back to back losses, he is still one of the most dangerous fighters in this division. Look for Torres to control this fight pretty much anywhere it goes, which will most likely be wherever Torres wants it to go. An impressive performance for Torres should catapult him back into the mix atop the bantamweight division.

Donald Cerrone vs Jamie Varner

This is a longgg awaited rematch. These two fought in January of 2009 for the LW title which Varner held at the time. For five rounds they went toe to toe, slugging it out and beating the hell out of each other. After a few unfortunate low blows, Varner told the referee he was unable to continue, with just under 2 minutes remaining in the final round. The bout went to a technical decision, and Varner was awarded the victory. People assumed an immediate rematch was warranted, but injuries kept Varner sidelined for almost a year.

Since that first bout, Cerrone has gone 2-2, with both of his losses coming to current champion Ben Henderson.

Varner returned from injury after a year only to lose his belt to Henderson. He then fought to a draw with Kamal Shalorus at WEC 49 after some more unfortunate low blows.

At a crossroads, th

ese two finally meet again. Cerrone was quoted in pre-fight interviews as calling Varner a "faggot" and saying he "wishes Varner is the first death in MMA". While these statements have since been retracted and apologized for, there is a lot of bad blood coming into this fight. Both of these guys prefer the stand up game, with Varner being the more technical boxer of the two. Cerrone is known to be careless and leave himself open to attacks (watch his second fight against Henderson), which may cost him in this fight as Varner will definitely make the best of any openings on the feet. This is a hard one to call, but knowing these guys, they will come and throw down hard.

MAIN EVENT

Jose Aldo vs Manny Gamburyan

If you are skeptical of MMA, think it's boring, think it's a bunch of guys laying on each other, whatever doubts you have, leave them at the door. Observe. Aldo is 17-1 (13 finishes). He celebrated his 24th birthday three weeks ago. He finished his first 6 fights in the WEC via TKO or KO en route to becoming featherweight champion. In his most recent fight, a title defense against WEC poste

rboy Urijah Faber, Aldo made a statement. He easily could have finished this fight after the third round. Instead, he continued to batter the legs of Faber with kicks, punishing the former star and playing with him for the final 5 minutes of the bout.

Here is Faber's leg following their bout

Needless to say, Aldo has shown a level of talent that is almost unparalleled in this sport. And at the mere age of 24, this kid is always improving and has the mindset that he can't be stopped.

One the other side of the cage is the Ultimate Fighter Season 5 finalist Manvil, or Manny, Gamburyan. A judoka and relative of UFC fighter Karo Parisyan, Manny went 2-2 in the UFC before dropping to 145lbs to fight in the WEC. He has since gone 3-0 with victories over Leonard Garcia and former FW champion Mike Brown. Gamburyan is very short, but is also very built. A stout little fighter, Gamburyan has a lot of power in his hands, and having trained in Judo, has a good ability of using his weight to throw people around.

Unfortunately for Gamburyan, this is a fight tailor made for Aldo to put on another brilliant performance. Being the small fighter he is, Gamburyan will need to get in close on Aldo in order to land his power punches or attempt a takedown. Getting your hands on Aldo is near impossible, as he has amazing footwork and mobility around the cage. There is also the fact that he is constantly attacking your legs, making it harder to move around and shoot as the fight goes on. The great thing about Aldo is while he has all the confidence in the world, he is smart. He will use his timing, speed and range early to stay out of Manny's reach and wear him down. It will then only be a matter of time before Aldo begins to unleash multiple series of knees, kicks, punches, and all sorts of various attacks, leaving Gamburyan unable to do anything but cover up and crumple.

Aldo seems unstoppable right now, and in my opinion is one of the top 3 pound for pound fighters in the world. Even if you can't manage to watch this whole card, please try to at least watch this fight. This kid is something to behold, so try to at least get a glimpse of him while he's still invincible.

So there you have it, 5 fights all with the potential to be absolute barnburners. And have I mentioned it's all FREE! Well that is if you have Versus Network.

Another thing I haven't really brought to light about the WEC is the fact that since it is made up solely of lighter weight classes, these fighters have much better cardio than some of the big guys in the UFC. This means there are hardly ever any fights where two guys are completely gassed out by the 2nd round, or where two guys kinda just hold each other against the fence and fall around. Nope, none of that pussy ass shit here. These guys go at it for the full fifteen minutes if they have too like a couple of skinny crackheads fighting for that last rock, except with MUCH more technique.

So make sure to tune in folks. Thursday, September 30th, 9pm Live on Versus. WEC has been putting on great cards recently and this one is looking to be something special. Hoped you enjoyed the read, and enjoy the fights!

Monday Morning Grab Bag

There are few things in this world worse than waking up at 6am on Monday morning. Especially around this time of year, when it is still relatively pitch black out, and in the event of today, raining. I arose from my bed today and took out the trash (Monday is our

trash day). There is only one thing that can remedy a case of the Mondays, and it is finding out that you in fact do not have work that day. I was blessed with that revelation this morning.

Upon hearing the news, I was elated and made my way to my computer to watch the most recent episode of Eastbound and Down. After laughing for thirty minutes at the profanity of Kenny Powers and his midget sidekick, I returned to my bed for four more hours of sleep.

A long shower, a big plate of scrambled eggs and a tall glass of chocolate milk later, I sit here prepared to deliver my first MMGB. I will use this to cover any wide array of topics from the weekend, whether it be football, movies, personal experience, etc. So with that, let's kick it off.

NFL

A few surprises this week, as we saw the Kansas City Chiefs improve to 3-0, beating the San Francisco 49ers 31-10, proving that they are for real. We also saw much needed wins from the Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings who were both previously 0-2. The only undefeated teams at this point are Pittsburgh(3-0), Kansas City(3-0), and the winner of tonight's Green Bay vs Chicago game.

As for our beloved Patriots, our defense finally showed its youth and inexperience. The Buffalo Bills were able to keep pace with the Pats by riding the arm of Ryan Fitzpatrick as well as a multi-faceted backfield of Marshawn Lynch, Fred Jackson and rookie CJ Spiller. It was good to see the Patriots walk away with a victory at the end of the day, but against a team like Buffalo I was expecting more. The Patriots are now tied with the Jets and Dolphins at 2-1 in the division, and will head to Miami next week to take on the Fins on Monday Night Football in a must win game in order to stay relevant in the AFC East.

AMC's MAD MEN

Last night's episode, titled Hands and Knees, raised some new interesting questions. If you have not yet watched the episode I recommend skipping the following paragraphs.

The episode starts out with Don calling Betty to tell Sally that he has gotten them Beatles tickets for the weekend. Betty seems surprised and at the same time impressed by Don. Later on, she is interviewed by men from the Government who say they have questions to ask about Don due to a security clearance he asked for. Betty complies. Following the matter, she calls Don to ask what the hell is going on, and Don is noticeably distraught over the situation. This is one of the few times we see Don Draper truly humbled. An overall sense of worry and fear comes over him, and he is thankful to Betty for her cooperation. It seems as if these two may actually begin to get along.

On the other side of the building, Joan informs Roger that their fun night of debauchery has resulted in some unwanted offspring. Sterling brings Joan to a doctor, who is disgusted by the whole matter, but takes care of the necessary surgery. Joan tells Sterling that she is sorry for what happened, and Sterling continues to push the fact that he is in love with Joan and thinks this is some sort of sign. It's interesting to see this story line finally actually brought into play. There has been a sexual tension between these two characters since the show has started. I guess the writers thought it more appropriate to wait until both characters were married before they began the affair.

Back to Draper's story, the news of the Government's involvement has Don shaken up, and he discovers his secretary filled out paperwork which he unknowingly signed, requesting some sort of security clearance from one of Campbell's clients. Don asks Pete to drop the account, but Campbell tells him it is worth $4mil, and that he found it and built it on his own. Draper talks down to Campbell as usual and basically orders that he cut ties with the account. This is a huge blow to Campbell, who is now an expecting father. Draper once again resorts to selfishness in the wake of an error due to his own negligence.

Towards the end of the episode we see Sterling at dinner with a client from Lucky Strike. It is here that Roger is informed that the two will no longer be working together. Sterling assumes its a joke and tries to laugh it off, only to be reassured that the account is in fact over.

Campbell assembles all the major partners of Sterling-Cooper-Draper-Pryce to inform them of the loss of his $4mil account (blanking on the name). At the same time, Sterling keeps quiet about the news from Lucky Strike.

There is also a minor subplot in which Lane Pryce tries to introduce his African American girlfriend to his father, only to receive his father's disapproval and an eventual blow to the head from his father's cane. Lane tells the partners he will be returning to England for a month to tend to family issues.

A solid episode all in all. This show has done a good job of delivering consistent, quality episodes for almost four seasons now. The character development of Don Draper has been absolutely fascinating, better than many other shows I have seen, except for Walt White in Breaking Bad (amazing show, also on AMC). There are just three episodes left in this season of Mad Men, I am expecting a great conclusion.

Culinary

I want to begin talking about food on here in some respect. In the event I go out to eat and have a really good meal or if I find some great new recipe, I will try to put these up. I love food, as I'm sure many people do, so we'll see what I can contribute in this aspect. To get us started, I'm gonna put up something that wasn't done by me, but by a close friend, Dallas Rose haha.

This is an enormous platter, it might be a little hard to gauge to actual size of it. If anyone is interested in the recipe, I will see if I can pry it from the cold dead hands of the chef. From here on out I will try to post only my own recipes, but this just looked to delicious to not share with everyone. Props to Dallas for this feast.

So that's about it for this week's Grab Bag. If anyone can think of something they would like to hear about on a Monday morning concerning the weekend, let me know and I'll try to give some good input. I will try to add in short movie reviews with these, I know Nick is planning on doing a review of the Town sometime this week. Aside from that, the only movie I've seen recently is Devil and that's not even worth the time to talk about. I also had a throat infection from Wednesday to Saturday so that cut down on me really getting out and doing much. Thanks for reading, check back in tomorrow or Wednesday for a preview of this week's FREE WEC 52 card. If you are interested in MMA or want to know what all the fuss is about, watch this card. More to come. PEACE!

UFC 119 Recap and Analysis

Coming into last night's UFC, there wasn't too much hype considering there were no championship fights on the card. Yet, each fight posed an interesting matchup, whether it be stylistically or experience-wise. With all five bouts holding the potential for Fight of the Night, this card seemed like one that would not disappoint. I still found myself unwilling to dish out $50 for an event which didn't feature a champion fighting, so I made due with the internet. Aside from a few hiccups here and there I was able to view almost the entire event, free of charge. For all of you who were unfortunate enough to have paid the fee, I am sorry. For everyone else, here's what you missed.

Lightweight Division (155lbs)

Jeremy Stephens vs Melvin Guillard

This fight was being billed as an instant FOTN nominee, as both of these guys are young, explosive athletes who like to let their hands go. Right off the bat, Stephens dropped Guillard with a huge counter right that left Melvin noticeably shaken up. Following this, Melvin appeared to be lighter on his toes, bouncing around and moving side to side, while Stephens stalked his opponent with a more flat footed approach. Melvin then began controlling the distance with his jab, and moving in and out while landing quick 1-2 combinations. It was soon clear that Stephens gameplan was to counter, but my god was it ineffective. Every time Melvin came in, he would land a quick jab, follow up right hand, and back out, leaving Stephens to counter and hit nothing but air with his left hook. Stephens became noticeably frustrated, having no luck finding his range or timing. In between rounds 2 and 3 we hear Melvin tell his corner that he has Stephens timing down, and they tell him to stay cautious. Stephens finally came out in the 3rd round pressing the action, fighting more aggressively with kicks and punches rather than simply attempting counters. Melvin fought much more conservatively, landing only one shot at a time, constantly moving, constantly frustrating Stephens. Although it wasn't the most exciting fight in the world, I had Melvin winning all the rounds. The final judges tally, 29-28 for Stephens, 29-28 for Guillard, and the last judge scored it 30-27 for the winner by split decision, Melvin Guillard.

Melvin has been in this situation many times before. He strings together a series of impressive wins, earns himself a fight on the big stage, and loses. It happened against Josh Neer, Joe Stevenson, and then Nate Diaz. But, Melvin appears to be a much more disciplined fighter now, training with Greg Jackson (coaches WW champion Georges St Pierre and formed LHW champion Rashad Evans, also Keith Jardine and Nate Marquardt.) Jackson is known for always employing a strategy or game plan for his fighters. In many cases this ends up resulting in a boring fight, where the fighter is simply fighting not to lose rather than to finish. Either way, Melvin showed patience and precision on his feet that we haven't seen from him before. Interesting matchups for Melvin could include a rematch with Joe Stevenson or a potential slugfest with either Ross Pearson or Takanori Gomi. As for Stephens, its back to the drawing board, as he has almost solidified himself as a gatekeeper in the division.

Lightweight Division (155lbs)

Sean Sherk vs Evan Dunham

This was the first bout of the night where experience figured to play an important role in the fight. Sherk is 37, with 38 MMA fights to his name and only 4 defeats. Dunham on the other hand is 28 with only 3 years of MMA experience, and an 11-0 record. This fight would determine if Sherk still had enough left in the tank to compete, or if Dunham was the new breed of up and coming lightweight stars. Dunham, holding a sizeable reach advantage over his opponent, looked light on his feet early. Sherk attempted several takedowns during the fight, and seemed to always end up caught in a guillotine choke (almost like a headlock), and just barely squeeze out. At one point in the first round Mike Goldberg even began his popular "It's ALLLLL over" saying, thinking Sherk had been choked out. Sherk was able to land substantial ground and pound in the first round and opened a large cut over Dunham's eye with a big elbow towards the end of the round. Sherk continued to look for the takedown only to end up in guillotines. With about a minute remaining in the 2nd round, Dunham, covered in blood from the cut over his eye, unloaded a series of kicks, knees, punches, and just about the whole kitchen sink. Sherk somehow was still standing at the end of the second round, showing a strong chin, while Dunham showed tremendous heart. By the third round, Dunham was stuffing Sherk's takedowns and finding a home for his lead left-straight right hand combo. Dunham put his hands and feet and knees together very well, punishing Sherk to end the fight. This was a tough one to judge. I gave the first round to Sherk, third round to Dunham, with the 2nd round being a tossup. Judges awarded the split decision victory to Sean Sherk.

Although Sherk was victorious, he doesn't seem to have enough left in him for another title run. This is a guy who prides himself on his rigorous cardio workout and his dominant wrestling style. In the first round he looked like the same Sean Sherk we've seen before, but through rounds 2 and 3, he looked exhausted and beaten up. At the end of this fight he looked ready to collapse. Sean put up a good fight against Dunham, but guys like Penn, Maynard and Edgar would pick him apart. As for Dunham, this kid impressed the hell out of me. Very active throughout the whole fight, attempting submissions, letting his hands/feet/knees go. This is the type of fighter the UFC wants, someone who will push the pace from bell to bell. Look for Dunham to rebound with a fight against Clay Guida or Gleison Tibau. Expect big things from Evan Dunham in the future.

Welterweight Division (170lbs)

Matt Serra vs Chris Lytle

So if you happened to read my predictions that I posted before this event, this fight went almost the complete opposite way. A rematch of The Ultimate Fighter Season 4 Finale, in which Matt Serra won a close decision, I predicted Serra would take a more definitive decision this time around, capitalizing on counter punches. Lytle held a 5" height advantage over Serra. Realizing this mismatch, Serra came out in a low stance and immediately began attacking Lytle's midsection with winging punches. Lytle would retreat and counter. Serra continued to push forward, attacking the body then swinging for the head of Lytle to end the exchange. Unfortunately for Serra, Lytle was finding a home for his counter right hand, and soon enough Serra's left eye was a bloody mess and swelling fast. Lytle, noticing Serra dropping his head to throw body punches, began connecting with BIG counter uppercuts. Serra was now getting hit with hard right counters to the eye and big uppercuts to the chin. Yet, the resilient Long Islander continued to move forward, only to have his head nearly taken off yet again by Lytle. Going into the final round, Serra became more desperate, throwing huge right hooks attempting to put Lytle to sleep. Lytle fought cautious, continuing to land counter right hands. You could see blood coming out of both eyes of Serra, reminiscent of Sam Neill in Event Horizon. Judges award Chris Lytle with a unanimous decision victory.

It's about that time for Matt Serra to hang em up. He had his time in the spotlight after upsetting GSP for the title. Since then he has lost a long anticipated grudge match to Matt Hughes, finished an old Frank Trigg, and lost to Chris Lytle. Time to become a full time trainer and hang the gloves up. As for Lytle, he has now strung together 4 straight wins. The 36 year old fan favorite Indianapolis Fire Fighter may have one last title run in him. I would really like to see him in there with the winner or loser of Carlos Condit vs Dan Hardy. Would definitely make for a great fight.

Light Heavyweight Division (205lbs)

Ryan Bader vs Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

Bader comes into this fight on the wings of a big knockout over formerly highly touted LHW Keith Jardine, who was subsequently cut from the UFC following 4 straight defeats. Rogerio, brother of former UFC HW Champion Rodrigo Nogueira, came into the UFC with an emphatic knockout win over prospect Luis Cane, only to look anything but impressive in his next bout against the relatively unknown Jason Brilz. The winner of this bout was said to be next in line for light heavyweight wunderkind Jon Jones. Bader, an All American wrestler at Arizona State, set the pace early, applying pressure before securing a big takedown. Nogueira was able to then use slick jiu jitsu to control Bader in his guard and eventually return to his feet. The fight continued with both fighters briefly exchanging punches, then Bader attempting a takedown. In most cases Nog would shrug off the initial attempt, but the persistence of Bader usually resulted in Rogerio on his back. From here, Bader would land limited ground and pound before Nog got back to his feet. By the third round, Bader had much more trouble securing takedowns, and Nog began to pepper him with left hands and knees. Bader eventually secured a takedown and hammer fisted the Brazilian fighter til the final bell. Another lackluster affair, Bader being awarded a unanimous 30-27 decision victory by the judges.

Lil Nog actually looked pretty impressive in this fight. Looked light on his feet, put his hands together well, the only problem was stopping the powerful takedowns of Bader. This division is still very deep though and there are plenty of exciting fights for Lil Nog out there, including a bout with Forrest Griffin which had been scheduled before but called off due to injury. As I mentioned, Bader will most likely be next in line for Jon Bones Jones, should be a good one.

Main Event

Heavyweight Division (265lb maximum)

Frank Mir vs Mirko "CroCop' Filipovic

So up to this point in the evening, we had 4 main card bouts, and all 4 had gone to decision. That meant we were in store for a great main event, right? I mean, sitting through 4 decisions, we had to be awarded with a slugfest in the final bout...right? Coming in, Mir weighed 25lbs more than CroCop (252 to 227), and had a 6" reach advantage over the Croatian. Mir looked very confident in his hands, having no problem going toe to toe with the former K-1 Kickboxing star. Unfortunately, most exchanges ended with Mir pressing Cro Cop up against the cage and just grinding him down. Literally just leaning into Mirko and pushing him into the cage with all his weight in an attempt to tire down Cro Cop's arms and legs. It must have worked because we saw Cro Cop throw maybe 3 or 4 kicks this whole fight. Now don't forget people, Cro Cop made his name by kicking people's heads off. Literally. He finished eight different people with either a kick to the head or to the body. They say getting hit by his left leg kick is like being hit full force with a baseball bat. Ouch. But, when you are unwilling to use your most effective weapon, the odds of you winning are going to be slim. Both fighters looked very timid all around on their feet, throwing brief combinations, but not really landing anything substantial. Mir continues to grind CroCop into the fence. With just :30 seconds left in the match, when it looks like we're on our way to a 5th decision, Mir clasps the back of Cro Cop's neck and lands a huge knee to the chin of the Croatian, putting him down and out. Two follow up shots land before Herb Dean calls an end to the bout.

Cro Cop should hang em up. There is no way he still has the killer instinct which made him so popular in pride. He looked extremely timid, and at 227lbs there's no way he can hang with guys like Lesnar, Carwin, Velazquez, Dos Santos, etc. He had a legendary career, but it has come to an end. As for Mir, I don't really know. His stand up does look markedly improved, but I still don't think he can hang with guys like Dos Santos or Carwin on the feet. The only fights I see for Frank now are the rematch with Big Nog which was the original main event for this card, or Mir vs Big Country Roy Nelson. Any other match up would be unfavorable for Mir.

So that's it everybody. Hope the read wasn't too boring and you actually learned a thing or two about this sport which I so deeply love. All in all, it was a pretty lackluster card. There is an upcoming WEC event on Versus September 30. I will post my predictions for that event during the week. And for the record, this card looks unbelievable considering its free on Versus. Thanks for your time and enjoy some Sunday football.

Wuttup + UFC Predictions

What's up everyone. As Nick said, we will mostly be covering everything from movies, television, sports, mma, to politics, daily jargon and so on. I'm gonna post a short set of predictions for tonight's UFC, and will post a more in-depth analysis of the results tomorrow morning.

Also I have a couple ideas for weekly topics to post about, i.e. Monday's I will talk about one thing, while Thursdays I'll talk about another. You get the point. So without further ado, here are my UFC predictions, and check back in tomorrow to read my analysis in case you didn't see the live event. Thanks guys.

UFC 119: Who Ya Got??

So I don't really care too much for the prelims that are gonna air on Spike. Mitrione's biggest win was beating Kimbo and he was also a joke on TUF. Hope Beltran crushes him. I also can't help but burst out laughing every time I see CB Dollaway's face.

With that being said, ON TO THE MAIN CARD!

First up
Jeremy Stephens vs Melvin Guillard
Hoping to see a slugfest in this one. Melvin has the power to put anyone to sleep, but Stephens has good hands to test the susceptible chin of Guillard. At the end of the day I see Melvin walking away with a KO win, 2nd round.

Next up
Evan Dunham vs Sean Sherk
This is Dunham's chance to prove if he's a legit contender or not. Sherk hasn't fought in a long time and will have to shake off some ring rust. It doesn't look too good for Sherk on the feet as Dunham has a profound reach advantage, and also Sherk's wrestling isn't as dominant as it used to be since we've seen mixed martial artists being forced to adapt to the growing talent. Dunham by decision in this one.

Oh great, a rematch
Matt Serra vs Chris Lytle
A rematch of the TUF 4 Finale in which Serra won a very close decision and went on to beat GSP for the title. Since this fight, Lytle has been MUCH more active and is constantly pushing the pace, which has won him several FOTN bonuses. Unfortunately for Lytle, Serra is a technical boxer who may be able to easily counter Lytle's winging punches. Also if Lytle gets in trouble on the feet and tries to take it the ground, Serra is no slouch there, as his BBJ Black Belt will tell you. Serra takes the rematch via a more definitive decision.

Followed by
Ryan Bader vs Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
So it's been rumored the winner of this bout will be the next opponent for Jon Jones. Bones requested a top 5 opponent, I guess this would fit the bill. I was very excited to see Lil Nog in the UFC, especially after he dismantled Luis Cane, but after that showing against Jason Brilz, you can't not think the guy has lost a step. The only other time he has faced a wrestler of this caliber was Dan Henderson, 5 years ago. If Nog couldn't submit Brilz off his back, I don't see him being able to submit Bader either. Bader takes this via TKO, sorry nog.

And the MAAAIN EVEEENT OFFFF THE EEEEVENING
Frank Mir vs Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic
This fight is really hard to predict. Sure, we all know Mirko is gonna go in there, try to keep it on the feet as much as he can and work his hands/feet. But what the hell is Mir gonna do? The obvious thing to say is take Mirko down, grind him down a bit, then submit him. But Mir is becoming more and more confident in his hands, as seen in fights with Big Nog, Carwin(kinda), and Kongo. Frank feels his hands are quicker, his footwork more fluids, and his punches more powerful than ever. I see this fight going very similar to Mir vs Kongo, with Mir pushing the pace early, throwing combos at CroCop before tying him up and attempting a takedown. Once here it's only a matter of time before Frank is able to snatch one of Mirko's limps or his back. I see Mir finishing this in the first round.

The one problem I have with the main event is the winner is left in limbo. If CroCop wins...who does he fight? Kongo(already lost to), Carwin(would destroy CroCop), JDS(Already killed Mirko). A rematch with Nog could be epic. And if Frank wins, all he has ahead of him are rematches. Kongo, Nog, Carwin, Brock? The only person he hasn't fought is Cain.


Well anyways, lemme know what you guys think and who you think will win. Just a refresher, I got Mir, Bader, Serra, Dunham, Guillard. Thanks again everyone.

btw I will be writing a more in-depth and comprehensive review of the Town.

Kicking it off

We're just getting this business up and running so don't expect Pulitzer Prize worthy stuff quite yet. Sull will be here soon to say whattap, and I believe comment on some UFC.

Bookmark us, we'll only post stuff worth reading. I will probably have a review of The Town coming up soon, just some quick thoughts on it.

Thanks for visiting

-Nick