Tag: Nam Phan

UFC 141 Predictions

Filed under: UFCWill Brock Lesnar make a triumphant return to the Octagon after more than a year away? Or will Alistair Overeem’s debut mark him as the No. 1 contender in the heavyweight division? Can Donald Cerrone finish 2011 with a perfect 5-0 recor…

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Brock Lesnar will face Alistair Overeem in the main event of UFC 141 on Friday night.Will Brock Lesnar make a triumphant return to the Octagon after more than a year away? Or will Alistair Overeem‘s debut mark him as the No. 1 contender in the heavyweight division? Can Donald Cerrone finish 2011 with a perfect 5-0 record? Or will Nate Diaz hand Cerrone a difficult ending to his stellar year? Will Jon Fitch return to his steady pace of grinding out decision victories? Or will Johny Hendricks become the first man not named Georges St. Pierre to beat Fitch in the Octagon?

We’ll attempt to answer those questions and more as we predict the winners at UFC 141.

What: UFC 141: Lesnar vs. Overeem

When: Friday, the Facebook fights begin at 7 PM ET, the Spike preliminaries start at 9 and the pay-per-view starts at 10.

Where: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas

Predictions on the five pay-per-view fights below.

Brock Lesnar vs. Alistair Overeem
 This fight is so fun for so many reasons. The obvious reason being that it’s two enormous men who will attempt to smash each other for our entertainment, but the slightly less obvious reason is that they’ll have two very different approaches to smashing each other, and that each man’s greatest strength aligns well with the other man’s greatest weakness.

For Overeem, the strength is that he punches, kicks and knees people really hard, and Lesnar’s greatest weakness is that he doesn’t react well at all when he gets hit really hard. In his last two fights, Lesnar has been finished by first-round TKO (against Cain Velasquez) and almost finished by first-round TKO (against Shane Carwin). In both cases, Lesnar did little more than cover up on the ground once he got leveled with a hard punch, although we have to give him credit for eventually recovering to beat Carwin. Overeem hits every bit as hard as Carwin and Velasquez do, and so Lesnar looks incredibly vulnerable on his feet.

However, Overeem has never shown that he can fair well against a good wrestler, and Lesnar is certainly that. Lesnar is also bigger and stronger than Overeem (or at least he is if he’s completely recovered from his latest bout of diverticulitis) and so he can’t be thrown around the cage the way many of Overeem’s recent opponents have been. It’s easy to picture Lesnar doing to Overeem what he did to Frank Mir at UFC 100: Getting on top of him on the ground, controlling him from the top, and eventually finishing him with punches.

And that’s what I think he’s going to do. This is a fight that could go a number of different ways, and Overeem probably has more different ways to win — he could easily use his K-1 striking to TKO Lesnar, and I wouldn’t rule out an Overeem win by submission either. But as long as Lesnar is completely healthy, I believe his physical power and wrestling prowess will be enough to take this.
Pick: Lesnar


Nate Diaz vs. Donald Cerrone
 Cerrone jumped to the UFC at the start of the year with the rest of the old WEC stars, and he’s promptly had one of the best years of any UFC fighter not named Jon Jones. Cerrone has already won four fights in 2011, beating Paul Kelly, Vagner Rocha, Charlies Oliveira and Dennis Siver. I think Diaz matches up better with Cerrone than any of those four, but I think at the end of an entertaining and mostly even fight, Cerrone will have landed more effective strikes and come out with a narrow decision victory.
Pick: Cerrone
Jon Fitch vs. Johny Hendricks
Fitch is finally returning to the Octagon after 10 months off because of a shoulder injury, and in Hendricks — a former NCAA wrestling champion — he might be facing the first opponent since Georges St. Pierre who can force him to abandon his usual tack of winning a decision through clinches, takedowns and top control. However, while Hendricks has much better college wrestling credentials than Fitch, Fitch is better at incorporating his wrestling in MMA. I like Fitch to win this one by decision.
Pick: Fitch

Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Alexander Gustafsson
 Matyushenko will turn 41 next week, but he’s still a sturdy gatekeeper in the light heavyweight division. Yes, he got wrecked by Jon Jones last year, but everyone gets wrecked by Jones. And that fight is Matyushenko’s only loss since he returned to the UFC in 2009. Throw in the fact that Matyushenko’s last two wins have been impressive first-round stoppages, and there’s a lot to like about Matyushenko.

But there’s even more to like about Gustafsson, a 24-year-old Swede who has all kinds of talent. This fight represents a solid test for Gustafsson, and it wouldn’t be a shock to see Matyushenko take it, but I like Gustafsson to win by TKO and offer up another indication that he’s a rising star at 205 pounds.
Pick: Gustafsson
Nam Phan vs. Jim Hettes
Hettes easily won his UFC debut in August, submitting former Ultimate Fighter contestant Alex “Bruce Leroy” Caceres. Now he gets a step up in quality of competition against Caceres’s Ultimate Fighter castmate, Phan. Hettes is 9-0 in his MMA career, with all nine wins coming by submission, and in training at Greg Jackson’s gym he’s becoming a more complete fighter. Phan has never been submitted in 26 pro fights and probably won’t be submitted this time, but Hettes is good enough that he should beat Phan by decision.
Pick: Hettes

 

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It Won’t Be Long, We’ll Meet Again: The Five Most Necessary and Unnecessary Rematches of 2011


(I see trouble a brewin’ on the horizon.) 

Given their frequency within the sport, we oft discuss the rematch here at CagePotato: we’ve mentioned a few that we’d like to see, we’ve mocked the possible occurence of others, and we’ve even gone as far as to predict how future ones would go down. And with 2011 featuring over 10 in the UFC alone, we decided to take a look back at at a year that both showcased and disgraced the awesomeness that is the rematch. Join us on this trip down memory lane, won’t you?

The Ones We Needed to See 

#5 – Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami at UFC 134

(Silva v. Okami, though this image could be from just about any of Silva’s fights.) 

Why it had to happen: Because the first fight marked the last time Silva had lost…at anything, and even if it was by way of illegal upkick DQ, it was enough to convince some people that Okami had his number. Plus, Okami had earned his shot by this point, and we were getting pretty damned tired of debating this old issue.

How it happened: Absolute. Domination. In typical fashion, Silva toyed with Okami like he was wrestling with his 4 year old nephew, letting the audience know that the fight would end when he decided it would. A head kick that rocked Okami at the end of the first round reinforced this belief, and Silva mercifully finished him off in the second. Cut. Print. TKO.

What it proved: That, outside of Chael Sonnen, there are no threats left in the UFC’s middleweight division for Anderson Silva. As with Strikeforce women’s featherweight champion Christiane “Cyborg” Santos, Silva must journey to another weight class if he desires a true challenge. Even DW is coming around to the idea, sort of.


(I see trouble a brewin’ on the horizon.) 

Given their frequency within the sport, we oft discuss the rematch here at CagePotato: we’ve mentioned a few that we’d like to see, we’ve mocked the possible occurence of others, and we’ve even gone as far as to predict how future ones would go down. And with 2011 featuring over 10 in the UFC alone, we decided to take a look back at at a year that both showcased and disgraced the awesomeness that is the rematch. Join us on this trip down memory lane, won’t you?

The Ones We Needed to See 

#5 – Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami at UFC 134

(Silva v. Okami, though this image could be from just about any of Silva’s fights.) 

Why it had to happen: Because the first fight marked the last time Silva had lost…at anything, and even if it was by way of illegal upkick DQ, it was enough to convince some people that Okami had his number. Plus, Okami had earned his shot by this point, and we were getting pretty damned tired of debating this old issue.

How it happened: Absolute. Domination. In typical fashion, Silva toyed with Okami like he was wrestling with his 4 year old nephew, letting the audience know that the fight would end when he decided it would. A head kick that rocked Okami at the end of the first round reinforced this belief, and Silva mercifully finished him off in the second. Cut. Print. TKO.

What it proved: That, outside of Chael Sonnen, there are no threats left in the UFC’s middleweight division for Anderson Silva. As with Strikeforce women’s featherweight champion Christiane “Cyborg” Santos, Silva must journey to another weight class if he desires a true challenge. Even DW is coming around to the idea, sort of.

#4 – TIE: Leonard Garcia vs. Nam Phan/Chan Sung Jung at UFN 24 and UFC 136

(Deep in the recesses of my brain, a tiny, red hot little flame began to grow.) 

Why they needed to happen: Because not many believed Garcia beat Jung, and not even Greg Jackson believed he beat Phan.

How they happened: Things didn’t go so well for “Bad Boy” the second time around; after falling prey to Jung’s Submission of the Year earning twister at UFN 24, Garcia would be upended by Phan in a Fight of the Night earning performance at UFC 136. Though detrimental to Garcia’s career, it did restore the balance between the sacred realms that had been thrown into chaos as a result of his previous “victories.” And hey, at least he took it with class.

What they proved: That MMA judging has not followed the sport’s rapid evolution over the past ten years, and perhaps it was time for a change. We’ve already discussed what needs to be done, but are still waiting for our lawyer to draft up the official documents. Anyone else got an idea?

Mike Massenzio to Receive Involuntary Knee Surgery Compliments of Dr. Paul Harris at UFC 142


(In a moment, you’re going to feel a little bit of pressure.) 

A lot of fight booking news today, Potato Nation.

With a featherweight title fight between Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes, the UFC debut of Siyar Bahadurzada, and some guaranteed fireworks in the Belfort/Johnson and Etim/Barboza scraps, UFC 142 is shaping up to be one hell of a card. But if, like me, you don’t get excited for a fight that lacks an outside possibility of descending into utter chaos, involving limb loss, premature celebration, and a lack of respect for the referee bordering on Earl Hebner levels of insanity, then boy are you in for a treat.

News broke earlier today that our favorite little appendage manipulator, Rousimar Palhares, has agreed to face New Jersey’s Mike Massenzio at UFC 142 in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. And although allowing Palhares to compete in his home country nearly cost him a victory over Dan Miller (who is also a Jersey native, ironically) in his last bout, “Toquinho” will no doubt be looking to impress against Massenzio, who may be fighting for his UFC career come January 14th. Just 1-3 in his last 4 UFC bouts (2-4 overall), Massenzio most recently scored a unanimous decision victory over the similarly struggling Steve Cantwell at UFC 136, making it Cantwell’s fourth straight decision loss in as many contests.


(In a moment, you’re going to feel a little bit of pressure.) 

A lot of fight booking news today, Potato Nation.

With a featherweight title fight between Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes, the UFC debut of Siyar Bahadurzada, and some guaranteed fireworks in the Belfort/Johnson and Etim/Barboza scraps, UFC 142 is shaping up to be one hell of a card. But if, like me, you don’t get excited for a fight that lacks an outside possibility of descending into utter chaos, involving limb loss, premature celebration, and a lack of respect for the referee bordering on Earl Hebner levels of insanity, then boy are you in for a treat.

News broke earlier today that our favorite little appendage manipulator, Rousimar Palhares, has agreed to face New Jersey’s Mike Massenzio at UFC 142 in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. And although allowing Palhares to compete in his home country nearly cost him a victory over Dan Miller (who is also a Jersey native, ironically) in his last bout, “Toquinho” will no doubt be looking to impress against Massenzio, who may be fighting for his UFC career come January 14th. Just 1-3 in his last 4 UFC bouts (2-4 overall), Massenzio most recently scored a unanimous decision victory over the similarly struggling Steve Cantwell at UFC 136, making it Cantwell’s fourth straight decision loss in as many contests.

Elsewhere in the MMA world, an interesting featherweight contest between Nam Phan and Jim Hettes has been added to UFC 141, which goes down at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on December 30th. Phan is coming off a wild decision victory over Leonard Garcia, also at UFC 136, that saw the TUF 12 contestant erase the controversial decision he dropped to Garcia back at the TUF 12 Finale nearly a year ago.

Hettes, a submission fighter out of Pennsylvania, made his octagon debut as a last minute replacement for Leonard Garcia, coincidentally, and snagged a quick submission victory over Alex “Bruce Leroy” Caceres at UFC Live: Lytle vs. Hardy back in August. Aquiring all of his 9 victories by submission, it will be intriguing to see if “The Kid” is able to overcome Phan’s precise striking attack.

Now here’s a picture of Steve Martin ironing a kitten.

-Danga 

Hump Day Headlines with Stephanie Ann Cook

UFC on FX to air in January 2012 with 2 bouts announced: Duane Ludwig vs. Josh Neer and Pat Barry vs. Christian Morecraft. MMA Junkie website (which was newly acquired by USA Today) will debut.

UFC on FX to air in January 2012 with 2 bouts announced: Duane Ludwig vs. Josh Neer and Pat Barry vs. Christian Morecraft.

MMA Junkie website (which was newly acquired by USA Today) will debut a live MMA news magazine show on Spike TV in January 2012.

Shane Carwin is recovering from back surgery which was necessary to keep him from “feeling paralyzed” when he competes.

UFC 141 books Nam Phan vs. Jim Hettes for December 30th event in Las Vegas.

Rousimar Palhares vs. Mike Massenzio added to UFC 142 event on January 14th in Rio.

UFC 143 receives Dustin Poirier vs. Eric Koch in February.

Yushin Okami vs. Tim Boetsch and Joe Lauzon vs. Anthony Pettis set for UFC 144 in Japan.

Justin Bieber paternity suit is dismissed by Mariah Yeater.

*UPDATE: The Bieber paternity case is still on. Reports earlier from TMZ indicated Mariah Yeater had dismissed the case but her lawyer says Yeater “believes Justin Bieber is the father.” In other news, judging by these recent pics both Yeater and Bieber look like excellent parental figures:


The Unsupportable Opinions: UFC 137 Preview Edition


(Hey, it’s that thing from my nightmares! So weird seeing you during the daytime! / Photo via @bjpenndotcom)

It’s been a while since we’ve tried to convince you fine people of something totally ridiculous. But looking through Saturday’s UFC 137: Penn vs. Diaz card, I feel like playing devil’s advocate on a few things. So keep an open mind, and read on…

Donald Cerrone Should Drop to Featherweight

Donald Cerrone has recently claimed that he’d like to face Nam Phan in his next fight, because Phan beat up his best friend Leonard Garcia earlier this month then allegedly said that if Garcia’s coaches were any good they would have taught him how to throw straight punches. Now, the average observer might say, “Look Donald, you’re on a five-fight win streak — shouldn’t you be more concerned about challenging for the belt at lightweight than chasing personal rivalries with unranked dudes at 145?”

But I say screw it, Cowboy, you do you. Not for the revenge aspect, which is completely silly. But because the lightweight division has too many contenders to the throne, and the featherweight division doesn’t have enough.


(Hey, it’s that thing from my nightmares! So weird seeing you during the daytime! / Photo via @bjpenndotcom)

It’s been a while since we’ve tried to convince you fine people of something totally ridiculous. But looking through Saturday’s UFC 137: Penn vs. Diaz card, I feel like playing devil’s advocate on a few things. So keep an open mind, and read on…

Donald Cerrone Should Drop to Featherweight

Donald Cerrone has recently claimed that he’d like to face Nam Phan in his next fight, because Phan beat up his best friend Leonard Garcia earlier this month then allegedly said that if Garcia’s coaches were any good they would have taught him how to throw straight punches. Now, the average observer might say, “Look Donald, you’re on a five-fight win streak — shouldn’t you be more concerned about challenging for the belt at lightweight than chasing personal rivalries with unranked dudes at 145?”

But I say screw it, Cowboy, you do you. Not for the revenge aspect, which is completely silly. But because the lightweight division has too many contenders to the throne, and the featherweight division doesn’t have enough.

Cerrone already seems enormous as a lightweight, but he says he can make 145 by giving up his addiction to Milk-Duds and Hot Tamales, and hiring a nutritionist. If he can pull it off, he’d be an immediate threat in the featherweight division. Already dangerous from all angles, aggressive, and well-rounded, Cerrone would be such a physically imposing presence at featherweight that he could win most fights on reach and power alone. And that’s a good thing, because after Chad Mendes (and maybe the winner of Hominick vs. Zombie), there really isn’t anybody who’s set up to challenge for the featherweight belt.

Plus, if Cerrone loses to Siver on Saturday night, he’s back to square one in a very crowded division. And of course, losing is a very real possibility, despite the fact that Cerrone is already writing the Russian-German striker off as a “one-trick pony.” Such overconfidence could cost him. And if it does, Cowboy’s probably better off starting over in a different division anyway.

George Roop Is Going to Beat Hatsu Hioki

Yes, I’m saying that the world’s #31-ranked featherweight is going to upset the guy at #7. Is it because I think Roop’s powerful striking will surprise the Japanese grappling specialist and former TKO/Shooto/Sengoku champ? Not exactly. I’ve just lost all hope that a top-ranked fighter from Japan can come over to the UFC and do well.

If there’s anything we’ve learned from the recent failures of Michihiro Omigawa, Kid Yamamoto, Takanori Gomi, and Jorge Santiago in the UFC, and Shinya Aoki and Maximo Blanco in Strikeforce, it’s that any top ranking earned while fighting in Asia is suspect. I hate to sound like Dana White here, but the results speak for themselves. Time and time again, reputations have been made in Japan, and immediately lost inside the Octagon.

Over the last three years, Hioki’s most notable win was his decision against Marlon Sandro, and Sandro has since been exposed while fighting in Bellator. So this argument isn’t based on the matchup, or George Roop’s momentum coming off his win over Josh Grispi. It’s just based on an undeniable trend. We’ve seen this a dozen times before, and we already know what happens.

Nick Diaz Will Beat BJ Penn, but Never Win Another Fight in the UFC

Here’s how this is going to go down: Diaz is going to slice Penn apart standing and take the fight out of him completely by the third round. Penn will eventually collapse under the onslaught — like so many before him — and Diaz will throw down strikes until the ref stops it. Penn won’t lose consciousness, because Penn doesn’t do that, but it’ll be a convincing, demoralizing stoppage loss, and it’ll signal that Penn can no longer hang with the top welterweights in the division.

Diaz will get a title shot against the winner of St. Pierre vs. Condit, which will be GSP. Now here’s where things get tricky. Before he returned to the UFC, Diaz built up a ten-fight win streak in EliteXC/Dream/Strikeforce, but he did so mostly against other strikers. He’s completely forgotten what it was like to face a tenacious wrestler, and St. Pierre is going to remind him, winning a five-round unanimous decision mostly on the basis of top control.

Diaz will be pissed. He’ll insult GSP afterwards for not coming to fight, and blast the point-fighting strategy that has taken over the sport. He’ll threaten to move to boxing again. But now that he’s served his purpose for the UFC — as another body to throw at St. Pierre — Dana White won’t have to put up with Diaz’s bullshit anymore.

If Diaz insults the UFC in interviews, he’ll be put on ice. If he ditches press conferences, he’ll be taken off cards and not given A-list replacement opponents. And when he does return, he’ll be offered a fight against Jon Fitch, take it or leave it. If he takes it, he’ll be humped to another unanimous decision loss. If he leaves it, well, who knows where the Nick Diaz story goes from there.

Streaking Donald Cerrone Willing to Drop Weight to Face Nam Phan at 145

Filed under: UFC, NewsLAS VEGAS — Just days away from a possible sixth straight win, Donald Cerrone is embodying the true spirit of a gambling town, with his eyes already turned on lucky seven.

But it’s not what you might expect. Cerrone isn’t think…

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LAS VEGAS — Just days away from a possible sixth straight win, Donald Cerrone is embodying the true spirit of a gambling town, with his eyes already turned on lucky seven.

But it’s not what you might expect. Cerrone isn’t thinking about asking for a lightweight title shot or even to face one of the division’s top contenders. Instead, he says after UFC 137, he wants to shed a few more pounds to drop to featherweight and face Nam Phan.

If you’re scratching your head at that one, Cerrone has a very specific reason, and it basically amounts to defending the honor of his camp.

Phan recently beat Cerrone’s Team Greg Jackson stablemate and friend Leonard Garcia, and afterward, he made some comments that apparently rubbed Cerrone the wrong way.

“He said if our coaches were any good they’d teach Leonard to throw straight punches, but [he doesn’t] know Leonard,” he said. “You could teach him one thing, but as soon as he gets hit, he turns into that wild caveman and that’s just how he fights. Nam just wants to talk s—. So I’ll show him what our training looks like, 100 percent.”

As post-fight comments go, Phan’s sounded fairly innocuous, but Cerrone insists he’s genuinely ticked off, and he’s willing to go to extreme lengths to get the fight.

In fact, Cerrone — who has a big fight against Dennis Siver on Saturday — mentioned just how much of a sacrifice he would have to make in order to get down to the division’s limit of 145 pounds.

“Lifestyle change, 100 percent,” he said. “I eat a lot of candy, I can’t survive without candy. Milk-Duds and Hot Tamales are what I love. It’s going to be a lifestyle change. I’m going to have to hire a nutritionist and I’m going to have to be really strict, and I’m going to have to have my friends there to die because I’m going to die. When I was in Houston I was almost 180. It’s going to be a lifestyle change. I’m going to have to start walking around at 160-165 and just keep dieting. I’m going to make it. I will make it. The give me that money, I will make it.”

Cerrone, who once had a memorable feud with Jamie Varner, seems to find rivalries in the strangest places. He acknowledged that it’s those thoughts that keep him motivated to train, and that he found the challenge of competing in two weight classes intriguing.

“Why couldn’t I do them both?” he said. “They’re going to say you’re 145, you can’t do 155? Whoa. Stop, no way. BJ Penn did it. Why can’t I do it? Why can’t I go to 145 and let Nam Phan know.”

Even though Penn has gone back and forth between weight classes in his career, he has had long shifts at each weight. Cerrone would be attempting to go back and forth for specific fights, something that’s never been done before. Apparently, he has no concerns about how the process of continually bulking up and then slimming down will have on his body. True to his “Cowboy” roots, he’ll fire off his guns and let the bullets land where they may.

“I don’t know, I don’t care,” he said. “I’m sure going out and getting drunk hurts me too, but I’m going to do that also.”

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