UFC 132 isn’t for another week-and-a-half, but I can already see the fireworks on the horizon. In this summer when it seems that every great MMA event gives away to a bigger and better version, UFC 132 is the latest and greatest. Le…
UFC 132 isn’t for another week-and-a-half, but I can already see the fireworks on the horizon.
In this summer when it seems that every great MMA event gives away to a bigger and better version, UFC 132 is the latest and greatest.
Leben-Wanderlei, Faber-Cruz, Ortiz-Bader, Dong-Condit, Roller-Guillard…and the hits just keep on coming. This is a fight fan’s fight card, with each matchup offering potentially scintillating action.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but by the end of the night, knockouts could actually be boring. Eh, maybe not.
Early betting odds are out for several of the fights, so let’s take a look and make a few preliminary picks.
When it comes to this Sunday’s main event between Rick Story and Nate Marquardt, the largest question is how Marquardt’s fairly bulky body will respond to shearing off extraneous poundage in his first drop down to welterweight.But his opponent is facin…
When it comes to this Sunday’s main event between Rick Story and Nate Marquardt, the largest question is how Marquardt’s fairly bulky body will respond to shearing off extraneous poundage in his first drop down to welterweight.
But his opponent is facing a similar, if not quite as urgent or closely dissected, question. Fighting on short notice and only four weeks after defeating Thiago Alves, how will Story handle such a quick turnaround?
A look at Story’s fight career suggests the former. Story (currently 13-3 overall and 6-1 in the UFC) actually began his career with five fights in six months, between Nov. 2007 and Feb. 2008. He went 4-1 during that span, losing only his debut.
All told, he has fought six times a month or less following his preceding fights. More importantly, however, is the fact that he won all but one of those encounters. Included in these quick-turnaround victories was a unanimous decision win over Jake Ellenberger in June 2008, which he pulled off a month after earning a unanimous decision win over Ryan Healy.
With all of this in mind, when Story says he and his camp “jumped all over the opportunity” to fight Marquardt just four weeks after Story defeated Alves, I’m pretty well inclined to believe him.
In fact, it’s making me rethink my take on this fight. Rethink, but not re-pick.
I still think Marquardt has too much for Story in this one.
Part of what makes Story so durable, one presumes, is his fighting style. He wrestles like someone who has been wrestling most of his life—that is, it seems to come without a lot of effort. And when Story is controlling the fight, it generally makes the fight a fairly non-traumatic affair, at least for him. Furthermore, he seems very comfortable at the 170-pound mark, and always appears to be in excellent shape and condition.
That may be his biggest contrast with Marquardt, who, of course, looked almost as natural at middleweight as Story does at welterweight. I am guessing that Marquardt will be successful in the weight cut, and will use his strength, experience and superior striking to keep the fight standing and score damage there, but also to hold his own with Story once the fight hits the ground.
Despite this, though, no one (including probably Marquardt) will really know until the proverbial cage door closes. But even if Story comes up short, I have a feeling we’ll see him back on a UFC main card again. And maybe sooner rather than later.
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! I’ve always wanted to start an article like that. Just another line item to cross off the bucket list. The betting odds are out for UFC on Versus 4—or, as it is officially known, UFC Live: Marquardt vs. Story. It&rsq…
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!
I’ve always wanted to start an article like that. Just another line item to cross off the bucket list.
The betting odds are out for UFC on Versus 4—or, as it is officially known, UFC Live: Marquardt vs. Story. It’s all going down starting at 6 p.m. Eastern this Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!
And since Sunday is almost universally recognized as a day of wagering, let us take a look at the complete list of odds and see if we can’t single out a few areas where you might want to lay down a jellybean or two.*
MMA is lucky.Despite its fearsome reputation, the sport is chock full of fighters who work hard, love their families and honor their profession and each other. In nine cases out of 10, MMA fighters are respectful and respectable people.This slideshow i…
Despite its fearsome reputation, the sport is chock full of fighters who work hard, love their families and honor their profession and each other. In nine cases out of 10, MMA fighters are respectful and respectable people.
This slideshow is about the other one.
It seems that no apple barrel is immune to a little spoilage. And when your chosen source of income entails hitting, kicking and twisting another man’s body parts, there’s going to be some bad seeds in the mix.
Every now and then, the result of that equation is a cheap shot. What follows are the 25 dirtiest, nastiest cheapest cheap shots the sport of mixed martial arts has ever produced. Some are cringeworthy, some are strange and most are, to be frank, rather hilarious, in that easy-for-me-to-say kind of way.
The UFC will air another rock-solid fight card on free TV when UFC on Versus 4—or, as it is officially known, UFC Live: Marquardt vs. Story—hits the airwaves this Sunday from Pittsburgh. Lots of storylines in this one, with 12 fights on…
The UFC will air another rock-solid fight card on free TV when UFC on Versus 4—or, as it is officially known, UFC Live: Marquardt vs. Story—hits the airwaves this Sunday from Pittsburgh.
Lots of storylines in this one, with 12 fights on tap and all either airing live on Versus or streaming through Facebook. But allow us to distill down the chatter into five predictions you can take to the bank.
After a spate of upsets and flaccid fighting, interest in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix is seeping away like helium from a balloon in the days following a kid’s birthday party where the clown never showed. And the ice cream tasted like freezer…
After a spate of upsets and flaccid fighting, interest in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix is seeping away like helium from a balloon in the days following a kid’s birthday party where the clown never showed. And the ice cream tasted like freezer.
But to walk away now would be to miss some interesting stylistic matchups and some potentially terrific fights between four veterans who hail from around the world and sport a combined MMA record of 99-22-1.
Three of the four (maybe all four) are not exactly household names, but one of them and maybe more will take a big step in that direction once the Grand Prix is all said and done.
So after last Saturday’s action at Strikeforce Dallas, who’s the favorite to go all the way?
On one side, you’ve got American grappler and former pro wrestler Josh Barnett against one of the most underrated heavyweights in the world (in my opinion) in Sergei Kharitonov.
Kharitonov is fairly well-rounded, but his bread and butter is his thudding standup game (11 of his 18 wins have come by way of a striking-related stoppage). Barnett, on the other hand, is a grappler’s grappler, and proved in his quarterfinal submission win over Brett Rogers that he hasn’t lost his touch after nearly a year away from the ring.
The heart says Kharitonov on this one (especially since Kharitonov and tourney favorite Alistair Overeem have split two bloody and entertaining matches thus far in their careers), but the head says Barnett.
While Kharitonov always has a puncher’s chance, Barnett has shown he still has the capability to take someone to the mat and hold them there. Kharitonov is working to improve his takedown defense, but it probably will not be at the world-class level it would need to be to consistently stuff Barnett’s shots. Barnett wins by unanimous decision.
On the other side, Strikeforce heavyweight champion Overeem takes on Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, who defeated Fedor Emelianenko in the Grand Prix’s opening round. Many observers are calling Overeem the favorite, to win the whole enchilada, and understandably so.
But I’m calling the upset. Overeem is a stupendous kickboxer and physical specimen, but has shown a propensity to be tentative when faced with an opponent who can’t be bum-rushed. I believe Silva is one of those opponents.
Bigfoot has the size, power, boxing and takedowns to pose a threat both vertically and horizontally. This won’t be a Fabricio Werdum Part Deux; Silva converts 70 percent of his takedown attempts, according to CompuStrike, and thus should be able to put Overeem on his back.
And having earned 12 of his 16 victories through KO or other striking-related stoppage, Silva knows what to do once the fight gets there. And he’ll certainly try to use his power in any event to break through to Overeem’s chin (he’s been knocked out seven times).
Silva wins by second-round TKO. And once again, Overeem fails to capitalize on the big stage.
With the tournament’s two most glamorous fighters watching from the sidelines, a Josh Barnett vs. Antonio Silva final will feel a bit like San Antonio Spurs vs. New York Knicks, back when the Knicks were scoring 65 a game and giving up 60. (Guess which fighter is the Knicks!)
Barnett will surely try to control Silva on the ground, but Bigfoot’s size and grappling savvy (he is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, after all) should help him there. And if Silva can stuff a few takedowns and keep the fight upright, I think he can use his heavy hands, sharp Muay Thai and relatively fresh legs to inflict major damage.
Barnett is a tough customer, which makes a stoppage unlikely. But he’s also 33 years old, and Silva ain’t Brett Rogers.
Antonio Silva wins the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix by unanimous decision. And maybe, just maybe, a star is born.
