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UFC 131: Will Shane Carwin vs. Junior Dos Santos End in Spectacular Fashion?

Ah, the heavyweight fight: the staple in American combat sports since the days of Ingemar Johansson, Jersey Joe Walcott and Rocky Marciano.It used to be that the fight primarily caused debate over which punch was going to finish the bout, but in Mixed …

Ah, the heavyweight fight: the staple in American combat sports since the days of Ingemar Johansson, Jersey Joe Walcott and Rocky Marciano.

It used to be that the fight primarily caused debate over which punch was going to finish the bout, but in Mixed Martial Arts, it’s not as cut and dry because MMA isn’t just punching people…unless you are referring to Junior Dos Santos and Shane Carwin, who face off in Vancouver as part of UFC 131 tomorrow night.

Both guys love to stand and trade, neither man has a fear of standing in the pocket and trading blow after blow, and this is why both men are considered among the elite in the 265 lb. division of the UFC.

Only one issue has sparked the debate of whether this fight will see a spectacular finish, and that’s Carwin’s wrestling, which was used last against Brock Lesnar at UFC 116 last July.

However, that one time is really the only time he’s ever used it in a fight, and really speaking, he’s always done well enough with his hands that there was no real need to get the fight to the ground. by a takedown.

As a matter of fact, if Carwin did use it for the majority of the fight, I’d be surprised, considering how keen he’s been in the past to let his hands go.

If the question surrounds whether we will see a spectacular finish or not, count me as one of the ones that not only thinks we will see a spectacular finish, but I predict that the victor will produce a “Knockout Of The Year” contender as Carwin and Dos Santos both have enough power in their hands to light an entire continent up.

Both guys are capable of such a thing, and the best part is that when they strike, they can be very unpredictable.

In other words, Junior, it’s not too late to show off that Showtime Kick you’ve been working on…

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UFC 131 Fight Card: What Vagner Rocha Must Do To Beat Donald Cerrone

There’s not a whole lot to say about Vagner Rocha (6-1-0 MMA) as he heads into this fight tomorrow night against WEC Veteran and perennial “Fight of The Night” bonus-seeker Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, aside from the fact that he has some good Brazilian jiu-jitsu, but is it possible that the fact that we know little about him might just be enough to think that maybe he can actually beat Cerrone?

It’s MMA, so of course it’s possible.

Some people have no faith in Rocha because all they know is that he’s 6-1-0 professionally and that he’s got some Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which might be a bit unfair of a basis to make the claim that he can’t beat Cerrone, but then again, Thiago Tavares is predominantly a jiu-jitsu fighter, and he went undefeated for a time.

Rocha can achieve success against Cerrone, but the key for him to beat Cerrone is a striking game.

Cerrone believes that this fight is going to be controlled by him due to his stand-up prowess, something which he adamantly feels Rocha will not have, so what better way of throwing Cerrone off than by showing some improved striking and actually trying to end the fight on the feet?

If it doesn’t lead to a KO or a stoppage, Rocha can at least use it to set up his takedowns and work his jiu-jitsu game, but he better take caution when doing so, because Cerrone is one of those guys who does have a good game from off his back.

It’ll take a great Wrestling game—not a good one, a GREAT wrestling game—to neutralize the jits of Cerrone, and unless Rocha has that, his best bet will have to be keeping it on the feet and trying to throw Cerrone off as much as he can.

If he can mix it up and make Cerrone wonder where he’s coming from, we could be seeing a big upset in MMA come tomorrow night.

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UFC 131 Fight Card: What Donald Cerrone Must Do To Beat Vagner Rocha

Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, arguably one of the most polarizing lightweights in the sport right now, makes his return to the Octagon after a second-round victory by rear-naked choke at UFC 126 over Paul Kelly to contend with masterful jiu-jitsu ace and Pa…

Now fans of the Mixed Martial Arts brand of combat sports know that you don’t have a true Donald Cerrone fight unless Donald Cerrone is talking a little bit of smack, and even though he called out Cole Miller, then exchanged benevolent malevolence with Mac Danzig and has to now contend with Rocha, Cerrone has made us a proud sports community by not keeping his big mouth shut about Rocha.

If there’s one other thing we all know about Cerrone, it’s that he can back it up inside the cage.

So with that said, is there any way for Cerrone to take home another win without the judges robbing Rocha?

It’s Mixed Martial Arts—of course there is, but Cerrone’s not getting the win by smiling and showing up to the arena.

He’s said before that this isn’t a championship jiu-jitsu competition—this is a sanctioned three-round bout consisting of three five-minute rounds, but we don’t know enough about Rocha to know that he’s only capable of that one aspect of the fight.

If he is, but all fights stay standing, then Cerrone needs to use his mastery of the horizontal scrap to expose the alleged lack of striking or the existent-yet-inferior striking of Rocha.

Once he has Rocha in a bad spot, then he can try to beat Rocha at his own game and take the fight to the ground, but we still don’t know enough about Rocha to know if he has a good takedown defense level or if he knows any ability in the wrestling field.

Provided he does have good enough takedown defense, Cerrone should prepare to hit Rocha with everything including the kitchen sink and the dishwasher just to get a win.

I’ve always said that anytime one signs a fight, that involves walking from a backstage area to a cage or ring and walking up steps to get inside the cage or the ring, just so they can try and beat up someone that legally has 15 minutes to punch a hole in their face, the fight is probably going to be a difficult fight.

Cerrone is a warrior for sure, but he should expect Rocha to be as difficult as Jamie Varner or Ed Ratcliff were for him when Cerrone faces Rocha this Saturday night in Vancouver.

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UFC 131 Fight Card: What Diego Nunes Must Do To Beat Kenny Florian

If Diego “The Gun” Nunes isn’t a gamer, I don’t know of any fighter that qualifies as a gamer.He delivered a 15-minute walk through fire for Mike Brown at UFC 125, he’s one of the few guys that admits he would not duck his teammates, especially since o…

If Diego “The Gun” Nunes isn’t a gamer, I don’t know of any fighter that qualifies as a gamer.

He delivered a 15-minute walk through fire for Mike Brown at UFC 125, he’s one of the few guys that admits he would not duck his teammates, especially since one of his teammates, Jose “Scarface” Aldo, holds the throne, scepter, cape and crown in the UFC Featherweight division, and on top of all of that, he gets an exciting veteran in Kenny Florian on Saturday.

Florian is a skilled fighter with technical punches, a good Muay Thai game that we have not seen in a while—mind you, he has not fought since UFC 118—and some excellent jiu-jitsu that he can use in the wink of an eye, but he’s going up against a vicious Nak Muay in Nunes.

Like Florian, Nunes has a notable Muay Thai game, and he incoporates his Brazilian jiu-jitsu into his fighting style, and if he wants to beat Kenny Florian at UFC 131, he must implement his striking game early on Florian.

If he gives Florian a chance to land any of his clean punches, he will eventually find himself backpedaling and close to getting finished by Florian, and if he lets Florian take him down at will, he’ll be inviting Florian to end his win streak and his UFC stint quite early.

From the opening bell, he should be looking to hit Kenny with everything from leg kicks on the outside to elbows against the cage, wearing Florian down and gassing him out until he’s primed and ready to have his night shut down by force due to any weapon in Nunes’ arsenal.

If the fight goes into Kenny’s world, no problem for Nunes just as long as he’s patient and capitalizes on any opportunity to do damage to Florian on the ground—and Kenny does have a weakness on the ground if he’s against someone that can effectively control him and neutralize his BJJ game, which Nunes is.

Kenny Florian is no slouch, but he’ll find out the hard way that Diego Nunes was the guy Florian should’ve ducked when he dropped to featherweight, and if Florian needs a reason why he should’ve ducked Nunes, Nunes will give him a few reasons and then some this Saturday.

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UFC 131 Fight Card: 10 Predictions to Bank on for the Dos Santos vs. Carwin Card

When Shane Carwin lost to then-UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar by second-round Arm Triangle at UFC 116 last July, the MMA world—quick to jump to discussions about dream fights for Carwin against the likes of Cain Velasquez and Junior “Cigano” Dos Santos—was on the verge of becoming accommodated with the Brock Lesnar era and started to question whether or not they would ever get to see Carwin in meaningful fights against Velasquez or Dos Santos for as long as they lived.

Fast forward almost a year later to now, when we as a proud MMA-addicted community are less than a week away from UFC 131, and what fight do we have to call “the main event of the evening” for this Saturday’s fight card?

Four months ago, the answer was a Heavyweight bout between Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos, but on May 12, 2011, multiple Mixed Martial Arts news outlets were able to confirm that the now-former UFC Heavyweight Champion was not only out of the bout, and not only forced to have a full foot of his colon removed, but Shane Carwin has stepped in for Lesnar.

It’s the Heavyweight main event we thought we’d never see, and it’s our main event this Saturday, backed by the continuing “Gold Rush”, so to speak, of TUF 1 Middleweight runner-up Kenny Florian against the fast-rising, hard-hitting, well-rounded Muay Thai mutilation machine and Black House Featherweight prospect Diego “The Gun” Nunes, who comes in off of the heels of a big UFC 125 victory over former WEC Featherweight Champion Mike Brown.

Also, Demian Maia walks into UFC 131 with only glaring defeats to Nate Marquardt and Anderson Silva on his otherwise blooming-bright professional record, and he looks to step in front of Silva once more, provided of two things, one of which is for him to soundly make rapid work of well-known Black House affiliate and Reign MMA standout Mark Munoz, who is looking to capitalize on the success he garnered against CB Dollaway at the most recent UFC Live event.

From top to bottom, the overall fight card is stacked with a little bit of something for every MMA fan’s insatiable appetite, but what’s going to happen this Saturday when UFC 131 is all said and done?

On behalf of myself, I present to you the answer to that daring question.

In my own poetic manner, I present to you 10 truths of what to expect to go down at UFC 131!

(Original article courtesy of The MMA Truth)

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UFC 131 Fight Card: What If Diego Nunes Beats Kenny Florian?

Mixed Martial Arts is unpredictable to where sometimes the most unfathomable of events can become a reality, but some people forget that anything and everything can and will happen in this sport.Maybe we’re convinced that fights are going to go a certa…

Mixed Martial Arts is unpredictable to where sometimes the most unfathomable of events can become a reality, but some people forget that anything and everything can and will happen in this sport.

Maybe we’re convinced that fights are going to go a certain way, maybe we just like one guy more than the other, and maybe we’re just going by the name recognition when we pick, but for some reason, we sometimes find ourselves judging certain fights before they happen.

Case in point: Kenny “KenFlo” Florian’s UFC 131 Featherweight bout against Diego “The Gun” Nunes.

Florian is not the Jaime Jara of the lighter weights–he’s not the first (and so far, only) man in MMA history to have won titles in four divisions, nor does he have any sick tattoos or the Stone Cold Steve Austin-like stare in his eyes or a reputation in Gladiator Challenge.

Florian is merely the first person in the UFC to have fought in four divisions, and all to get his hands on one UFC title.

Perhaps that’s the reason why he’s such a heavy favorite to not only defeat, but make convincingly short work of Nunes–because many feel his Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing, and Muay Thai will look its best at the Featherweight level.

However, what if Diego Nunes not only wins against Florian, but beats him decisively?

Does a win put him in the upper echelon, or anywhere close to the top of the heap at 145 pounds?

Well, perhaps, but Florian is untested at 145 and a win may not affect his position, but it could alter Nunes’ rank simply because it’s Florian.

What it does mean is that while Nunes might be perceived as untested, it also means that Nunes has been tested against a qualified fighter–qualified in the sense of his ability to put Nunes in legitimate danger.

Florian is untested at 145, but as an overall fighter, Florian is no joke.

He’s a TUF 1 veteran who has fought at 185, 170, 155, and now 145–and he has proven himself to be a legitimate threat at the Welterweight and Lightweight level despite never winning the belt in either of the two divisions.

He will look to achieve the same success against Nunes, but what if he can’t even get by his divisional debut?

It’s possible that, whether we admit it or not, Florian may suffer an upset loss come UFC 131 this Saturday.

This fight is supposed to welcome Florian into the 145-pound division and eventually set up a showdown with Jose Aldo, but when it comes to this fight, we could be looking at something that is a full 10,000 miles from a title fight with Aldo.

If Diego Nunes beats Kenny Florian this Saturday, it’s possible that Nunes will have completely derailed the Kenny Florian hype train and made it clear that he is the future of not only the UFC’s Featherweight class, but the future of MMA’s Featherweight scene as a whole.

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