Author: moneybags

Doerksen submits Tom Lawlor via rear naked after lots of punching on the feet. A very entertaining fight. People don’t know Doerkesen, but he goes way back with the UFC and is a real veteran. I saw him fight like 3 weeks ago in King of the Cage.

Koshcheck vs Daley next.

Cote and Belcher were pretty much even the whole fight.

Cote working a double leg up against the cage, Belcher maneuvers Cote between his legs and picks him up and slams him, what I thought, was his head. I personally thought that should have been a stand up warning at the least. Ref does nothing and it looked like Cote was flash KO’d for a second. He kind of stops fighting looking up at the ref and Belcher quickly takes back, locks in hooks, and gets rear naked choke.

This fight ended VERY similarly as to Scott Smith vs David Terrell (btw what happened to that guy?) fight.

I take nothing away from Belcher though always mad respect for his skill.

Stephens vs Stout right now.

Mitrione lit Kimbo up with leg kicks and utilized some great ground techniques first with locking a slew of triangles up on Kimbo, but just couldn’t get that leg over the ankle only the foot and eventually Kimbo escaped.

Later on more leg kicks that absolutely took Kimbo out. Haven’t seen that kind of leg kick damage since Pete Spratt made Robbie Lawler tap to leg kicks.

One leg kick drops Kimbo, and Mitrione locks up another gator roll. A move you rarely see in the cage. Last time I remember seeing that move was Randy Couture vs Mike Van Arsdale. It was a great choice as he rolled Kimbo twice.

Eventually Mitrione takes mount for the majority of the round and Mirgliotta stops the fight after Matt was on top dropping mostly rabbit punches and a few power shots for what seemed to be over a minute.

Saturday May 8th, Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada

First I got to say I like this card. Great matchups top to bottom.

Josh “Kos” Koscheck vs Paul “Semtex” Daley

You have two guys who can knock almost anyone out on their feet in the division. Koscheck is a Div 1 wrestler and Daley has shown to have problems against ground fighters. The difference is Koscheck doesn’t always wrestle and if he doesn’t against Paul Daley he is going to be in trouble. Daley has much much better standup technique and power. However, Koscheck is excellent at taking people down and maintaining top control. Remember the Koscheck/Lytle fight? Koscheck took Lytle down and split his head open with elbows. Lytle is a black belt in jiu jitsu and Koscheck ran through Lytle’s guard. Then you take the Paul Daley vs Jake Shields, and Shields literally owned Daley on the ground.

I’m going to give the benefit of the doubt that Koscheck will take Daley down at will and control the fight there.

Koscheck via decision

Betsson has Paul Daley @ 2.8 and Josh Koscheck @ 1.4
Bodog has Paul Daley @ +190 and Josh Koscheck @ -250
Intertops has Paul Daley @ +185 and Josh Koscheck @ -250

Matt Mitrione vs Kimbo Slice

You initially I’ve been thinking all along that Mitrione is winning this fight. Kimbo with his muscles are going to get tired and Mitrione has that age advantage in the cardio department. Not to mention size. Kimbo is giving up 50 lbs to Mitrione.

One thing for sure is Mitrione has a concrete beard from what we saw on the TUF show and in his fight with Marcus Jones.

Kimbo on the other hand does not. One of Kimbo’s issues is his cardio, and if he has filled that hole in his game then I think Kimbo will win this fight. His technique is better and he has shown to have improved his ground game. Naturally, since he trains with American Top Team.

Mitrione on the other hand has shown better boxing albeit against a giant robot in Jones.

This fight is a pickem. I want Kimbo to win, but Mitrione has craziness on his side, weight advantage, chin advantage. With the odds this close, I think Mitrione wins.

Alan Belcher vs Patrick Cote

As good as Belcher has been fighting, I think if Patrick Cote hasn’t lost too much due to ring rust and his knee injury, I think Patrick Cote wins. The strategy for Belcher could easily be to use his thai kicks and test that leg of Cote’s. The head movement of Belcher might be enough for Cote to find his button and take this fight to a decision. I can see a tko though just the same for Cote.

I like Cote to win.

Jeremy Stephens vs Sam Stout

Guaranteed to be an awesome fight. You have Stout who really has improved since his first loss to Spencer Fisher, however, Stout won the second fight rather definitively. Fisher happens to train with Stephens so Stephens will have an inside hand on how to handle Stout. Stout has the reach advantage, but definitely does not have the power advantage. The technique will goto Stout who has excellent combinations, a good jab, and great leg kicks. Stout’s ground game has also improved and we saw that in his fights with oe Lauzon and Matt Wiman.

Stout is favored here, but I like picking Stephens in the underdog position. Despite the better technique of Stout, I’m going with the power puncher Jeremy Stephens.

The Way Undercard

Joe Doerksen vs Tom Lawlor

Marcus Davis vs Jonathan Goulet

TJ Grant vs Johny Hendricks

Tim Hague vs Joey Beltran

Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs Mike Guymon

Jason MacDonald vs John Salter

Saturday May 8th, Bell Centre

What Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida Has To Do To Win @ UFC 113:

Machida knows that when he made his attacks in the last fight he never finished any of them. He always stopped half way during every attack. Now I just saw the prefight video and you can see that Machida is doing one to two steps beyond what he did against Shogun. You might think I’m crazy for saying that, but watch, Machida is training to attack more – I can see it. Machida also did not circle, instead moved straight back and allowed Shogun to catch him with leg kicks as he moved backwards into kicking range. I know Machida and his camp must know this. He didn’t check Shogun’s thundering leg kicks very well either.

What Mauricio “Shogun” Rua Has to Do to Win @ UFC 113

Combinations, ground game, leg kicks.

When the range gets close, Shogun probably is the better striker, where he can throw his hand combinations and finish with leg kicks. Shogun needs to be close and whereas Machida is probably better at kicking range. People will argue though that Shogun got the better of Machida in the kicking range. However, that is Machida’s strongest spot.

The Way I See This Fight Going

I see the fight going similarly as last time, but Machida will finish his attacks and press a little bit more. Machida should be able to win this fight based on his striking prowess and not act as a punching bag. When Machida evades more and attacks with 3 combinations, instead of 1 or 2, he will win more decisively.
Even though Rua looked like the fighter with slightly better cardio, the fact that Machida was taken to the brink in their first fight that I think Machida will perform better in the rematch.

I like Machida in this fight to win.

Intertops shows Machida @ -200 and Rua @ +150

Sportsbook.com shows Machida @ -185 and Rua @ +155

Bodog shows Machida @ -200 and Rua @ +160

Paddy Power shows Machida @ 8/13 and Rua @ 6/5

Betsson shows Machida @ 1.5 and Rua @ 2.48

Jose Aldo showed why he is the best in the featherweight division. He is definitely one of the top 4 pound for pound in the world. Aldo kicked Faber’s leg into mince meat. Faber couldn’t get any punches on target due to the reach, speed, and head movement of Aldo. Aldo though did not finish Faber, I personally think out of respect. He was never in danger. Aldo had Faber in the crucifix for roughly 2 minutes and pounded his face with elbows and punches. However, Josh Rosenthal held back from stopping the fight. Which I thought was good. Old UFC right there.

Ben Henderson made quick work of Cerrone, stunning the bookmakers with a sweet guillotine early in the first. No surprise here. Go Smooth!

Another stunner that crushed many bettors tonight was the heavily favored Mike Brown who got KO’d by Manny Gamburyan early in the first round. Who picked Manny? Me.

The Garcia vs Jung fight was sick. Fight of the year candidate. Leonard Garcia is the definition of leaving everything in the cage. Garcia and Jung literally went ballistic in the cage and fired everything they had. IMO Jung got all the better of the striking for all 3 rounds. I don’t think Garcia won any round, however, Garcia was given the win.

The only loss for me tonight was the Njokuani vs Roller fight. Roller fought smart. I said if Njokuani could avoid the ground then he will win, however, he couldn’t avoid it and fought off Roller’s rear naked choke for nearly an entire round, but eventually tapped.

Scott Jorgensen took the win over Anothy Banuelos. Both fighters displayed alot of energy, but Jorgensen got the better of the mix ups, with Banuelos landing one really nice shot early that almost took Jorgensen out. However, the next two rounds Jorgensen dominated and bloodied up Banuelos badly while utilizing ground and pound for the rest of the fight.

For WEC’s first PPV event they showed the whole card due to most fights being finished. I really miss that.