See previous Articles MMA Betting Strategies I and II for reference……. After 1 night of posted picks here on MMA Fix, the Crisper wound up 2-1, with wins on Nate Diaz (+175 when locked in,.
See previous Articles MMA Betting Strategies I and II for reference…….
After 1 night of posted picks here on MMA Fix, the Crisper wound up 2-1, with wins on Nate Diaz (+175 when locked in, closed at +155) and Alan Belcher (+220 when locked in, closed at +160). My posted loser was Josh Koschek (-125 when locked in, closed at +140, thought we might get a split decision on this closely contested battle). Because money management has taught me over the years to play “to win 1 unit” on favorites and “to risk ½ unit” on dogs, I wound up + .725 units, for another night of profits!!
The Crisper was a little nervous to post both of his favorite picks, as he didn’t want to have a losing night for all MMA Fixers out there on the first night of posted picks (especially since Dodson was -500). From now on all FAVORITE FAVORITES and at least 1 Dog will be posted each night of fights….all for FREE of course!
Getting back to the action on Saturday, impressive performances were turned in by 3 fighters in particular.
Alan Belcher – how did he keep slipping out of all those leg locks??? Seriously it must be scary when a little Tasmanian Devil lookin’ Jiu Jitsu black belt grabs your foot, then turns on it so you can’t see what’s going on under there….eeesh! Belcher is for real…wondering who he will be paired up with next?
Lavar “Big” Johnson – This is one “Big”, Bad Dude. I counted 38 full out roundhouses to the head of Pat Barry before he finally fell…not bad for a “Big” man. His conditioning is excellent for a heavyweight…and he is definitely “BIG”. One has to wonder if his nickname has any dual meaning?
Nate Diaz – pure domination of a very good opponent. Used his reach and began taunting Miller before literally picking him apart with precision striking. Title fight here he comes.
Closing Note – For all of us MMA junkies out there, how great was it to not have to cough up $60 bucks for this great night of action? By the way, why do they even offer the non-HD version of these fights for $49.95? I mean seriously…NON-HD? What’s the point?
Check back this weekend for the Crisper’s picks for Tuesday’s UFC on Fuel card.
Alan Belcher’s first-round win over Rousimar Palhares at last Saturday’s UFC on FOX 3 card was the biggest of his career.From a purely athletic perspective, it was an important fight for Belcher. Palhares was, or is, one of the most terrifying guys in …
Alan Belcher’s first-round win over Rousimar Palhares at last Saturday’s UFC on FOX 3 card was the biggest of his career.
From a purely athletic perspective, it was an important fight for Belcher. Palhares was, or is, one of the most terrifying guys in the division, especially when it comes to submissions. Belcher didn’t just beat Palhares; he took everything Palhares could give him on the ground and still escaped to finish the fight.
The fight also proved that Belcher is deserving of consideration against the top guys in the division. If not for a highly-disputed loss to Yoshihiro Akiyama back at UFC 100 — a fight just about everyone else in the universe besides the three judges sitting cageside figured Belcher won — the Biloxi native would have a 7-fight win streak against increasingly tough competition.
So what’s next for Belcher?
The top of the middleweight division is becoming increasingly crowded. Champion Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen fight in July, and new signee Hector Lombard faces Brian Stann in August, with the winner likely earning a title shot.
Though Belcher called out Silva after defeating Palhares, it looks like he’ll have to wait awhile before getting his shot. Never fear, though — Belcher has the perfect next opponent in mind:
I think a fight with Michael Bisping makes a lot of sense. I mean, Boetsch looks like a beast at 185, and I’ve got to admit, he looks pretty scary. The other guys in the division, in my mind, I’ve already beat them so many times, and I know everything about them, and I know they don’t have anything really threatening. Boetsch has got some pretty powerful tools, and is a pretty scary dude.
Bisping, of course, is getting to be a professional point fighter, and he’s kind of hard to beat like that. That fight would be a nice payday, and a big fight for the media, so I’m kind of leaning towards that one. It would make sense, and the fans would love it. I can almost feel the energy I would get from the fans if I put him to sleep.
I’ve got to admit, this is an intriguing idea. If Bisping isn’t in the title picture — and it’s a shame if that’s actually the case — then pairing him up with Belcher in a contender’s bout later this year would be just about the perfect fit.
Does Belcher have a point when he says that Bisping is becoming a professional point fighter? Sure. Bisping finished Jorge Rivera last year, and he finished an exhausted Mayhem Miller in December, but for the most part, Bisping has been content to ride out decisions. He’s been highly effective in that role, to be sure. But that style hasn’t helped him earn any title shots in a promotion that values entertainment almost as much as they do winning. Just ask Jon Fitch how that philosophy worked for him.
(Upkick me once, shame on you. Upkick me twice, shame on me. Upkick me six times…seriously, bro?)
From Nate Diaz‘s hilarious taunts to Lavar Johnson‘s brutalization of Pat Barry, here are the best moments from Saturday night’s UFC card in animated GIF form. Props to IronForgesIron, the UG, and TheBigLead. More good stuff after the jump.
(Pablo Garza vs. Dennis Bermudez: Upkick me once, shame on you. Upkick me twice, shame on me. Upkick me six times…seriously, bro?)
From Nate Diaz‘s hilarious taunts to Lavar Johnson‘s brutalization of Pat Barry, here are the best moments from Saturday night’s UFC card in animated GIF form. Props to IronForgesIron, the UG, and TheBigLead. More good stuff after the jump.
Heading into this past weekend’s bout between heel-hook specialist Rousimar Palhares and Alan Belcher, many fans were expecting “Toquinho” to walk away with his fifth submission win of his UFC career. With a 13-4 record going into the bout an…
Heading into this past weekend’s bout between heel-hook specialist Rousimar Palhares and Alan Belcher, many fans were expecting “Toquinho” to walk away with his fifth submission win of his UFC career.
With a 13-4 record going into the bout and having 10 submission wins with six heel-hook victories, Palhares made the claim to being one of the more dangerous submission artists in the UFC. His short and stocky build was also a feature that added to the intimidation factor of his brutal submissions.
Being no stranger to making other black belts tap in the Octagon, Palhares was more than confident in his ability to catch Belcher, but “The Talent” had no intentions of getting caught in something he had been training to avoid throughout his entire camp.
The fight, which aired on the main card of UFC on Fox 3, started with Palhares securing the takedown and trying to lock in the submission. To many fans’ surprise, Belcher escaped and stayed in guard where he established his attack with some brutal ground and pound with elbows and punches.
After a long barrage of strikes landed, the referee jumped in to save Palhares from any more damage, but it was the submission defense of Belcher that impressed everyone.
In this video, Ryron Gracie and Rener Gracie breakdown the submission defense of Belcher, which helped guide him towards stopping Palhares.
They also breakdown the main event, which saw Nate Diaz be the first fighter to finish Jim Miller. After knocking down his opponent in the first round, Diaz was able to take over the fight quickly before submitting Miller in the second round with a guillotine choke.
With a first-round stoppage of Brazilian Rousimar Palhares, Alan Belcher stated his case for title contention in the 185-pound division. Belcher’s win streak now stands at four and he is 8-2 over his last 10 fights. Now two fights back from a devastati…
With a first-round stoppage of Brazilian Rousimar Palhares, Alan Belcher stated his case for title contention in the 185-pound division.
Belcher’s win streak now stands at four and he is 8-2 over his last 10 fights.
Now two fights back from a devastating eye injury, it is clear that Belcher is eager to get his hands on the UFC middleweight belt.
Let’s take a look at some of the things we learned from his performance at UFC on Fox 3 at the Izod Center in New Jersey.
As expected, it was a great idea to pit two heavyweight knock out artists against one another for the Fox audience. Lavar Johnson and Pat Barry swung for the fences and beat the tar out of each other for almost a whole round before Johnson stopped Barry with punches.
Johnson now has two consecutive entertaining UFC wins under his belt, after back to back Strikeforce submission losses. He’ll likely get at least a couple more style-friendly sluggers to duke it out with from the UFC since he’s performed so well against them thus far.
Barry’s situation may be a little more complicated. The former K-1 fighter always brings it in his fights, is fan-friendly and has some big wins on his resume. But he’s also now lost three out of his last four fights and five out of his last eight. One would imagine he’ll get at least some more fights from the UFC given that he won his prior fight and how exciting he was, even in defeat, against Johnson.
As expected, it was a great idea to pit two heavyweight knock out artists against one another for the Fox audience. Lavar Johnson and Pat Barry swung for the fences and beat the tar out of each other for almost a whole round before Johnson stopped Barry with punches.
Johnson now has two consecutive entertaining UFC wins under his belt, after back to back Strikeforce submission losses. He’ll likely get at least a couple more style-friendly sluggers to duke it out with from the UFC since he’s performed so well against them thus far.
Barry’s situation may be a little more complicated. The former K-1 fighter always brings it in his fights, is fan-friendly and has some big wins on his resume. But he’s also now lost three out of his last four fights and five out of his last eight. One would imagine he’ll get at least some more fights from the UFC given that he won his prior fight and how exciting he was, even in defeat, against Johnson.
Alan Belcher may have just capped the stealthiest rise to title contender in the UFC with his first round TKO win over Rousimar Palhares. Belcher defended a flurry of leg-lock attempts from Palhares expertly, allowing his He-Man shaped opponent to gas out, before putting on a ground striking clinic and finishing the fight himself.
Belcher has only lost one time since September of 2008, and that was a controversial decision to Yoshihiro Akiyama. He’s now piled up four consecutive finishes against solid competition and, short of Chael Sonnen, Mark Munoz and Hector Lombard, there are not many other names other than Belcher’s to consider as #1 middleweight contender.
We got exactly what we could have expected out of the matchup between former NCAA Division I wrestling national champions Josh Koscheck and Johny Hendricks – a wild slug fest. Top wrestlers like Koscheck, Hendricks and Dan Henderson often carry with them nasty one-punch natural knockout power, which they typically wield with reckless abandon. After all, they don’t usually have to worry about being taken down no matter how much they over extend themselves on strikes.
That’s what we saw with Hendricks and Koscheck. They each threw nothing but power shots, in spurts, in between mostly failed takedown attempts. Koscheck appeared to hurt Hendricks in the first round, but Hendricks landed nearly twice as many total strikes as Koscheck, including big uppercuts and straight lefts that landed flush, didn’t seem to face Koscheck, but left the right side of his face swollen badly.
In the end, two judges saw it for Hendricks and one for Koscheck. The fight was close but since Koscheck was gifted a decision over Mike Pierce in his last outing, you can’t feel too badly for the recently liberated long time American Kickboxing Academy fighter.
The good news for Koscheck is that he looked like his old self against Hendricks, after seeming flat against Pierce. Also, the dude has a plane, so, you know…it’s all good.
With as crowded and muddled as the talent-heavy lightweight division title picture is these days, some might have wondered if Dana White’s pre-fight statement that Nate Diaz would get a title shot if he beat fellow contender Jim miller was premature or dubious in its logic. But after beating Miller via second round guillotine submission, Diaz has three consecutive wins over former champs or top contenders.
What’s more is that Diaz beat Miller so emphatically and decisively. Miller is not an easy man to stop, in fact, Diaz is the first person to do so.
No one can say that they wouldn’t want to see the volatile and exciting Diaz take his pin-point striking and nasty submissions and challenge Frankie Edgar or Benson Henderson at this point.
Alan Belcher’s first-round win over Rousimar Palhares at last Saturday’s 
