Opinion | UFC Betting Sites - The Best MMA Online Bookies

UFC 134: Will an Anderson Silva Main Event Disappoint Again?

Anderson is the top pound-for-pound mixed martial artist in the world today in my opinion. In fact, I agree with the assessment of UFC President Dana White. I also think he is the best ever in the short history of this sport.These kinds of comparisons …

These kinds of comparisons are much harder to make in boxing which has a much longer history of great fighters. MMA is still very new and greatness stands out in stark contrast to its surrounding parts.

The one glaring sour spot in Anderson Silva‘s UFC tenure is his three bouts where he seemed to decide to joke and showboat instead of engaging or damaging his opponent.

In 2008, I met my cousin in Chicago for UFC 90. It was the first (and only) time the UFC has ever been to Illinois. I basically drove all that way to see Anderson Silva. It is not often that one can witness such brilliance in the fight game and I wasn’t going to miss it.

What I ended up getting was a great UFC debut from Junior dos Santos and a very uninspired performance from Silva in his bout. Silva showboated and mocked Cote for two rounds and then Cote suffered a knee injury ending the bout. Needless to say I was not very happy considering the $100 spent for a nosebleed seat.

The second Anderson Silva bout where he exhibited this strange behavior was against Thales Leites at UFC 97. In this bout Leites refused to engage for the most part and Silva finally got to the point where he just decided to mostly dance around and retain his belt and move on. Luckily, he rebounded with an amazing jab knockout of Forrest Griffin at UFC 101.

The third bout took place at the first ever UFC event in Abu Dhabi. In this match Silva hurt Demian Maia in both of the first two rounds but never moved in to finish. He spent the last three rounds being very arrogant and attempting to make the challenger look like a fool. Silva infuriated many of his fans and the UFC brass. It also marked the first time that I literally walked out of a restaurant before the end of a UFC fight.

So, will this main event be a repeat of the middleweight champion’s previous strange outings? I think there is very little chance of it being a bad fight. In the three bouts I mentioned above Silva seemed to have little respect for the men he was facing and it showed in the way that he acted like a modern day Muhammad Ali, dancing and belittling his opponents.

Not only do I think Silva knows that Yushin has earned his shot at the title and will take him seriously, but the fact that he was disqualified in their first bout five years ago will give him the motivation he needs to want to finish. Not only do I think he will finish this fight, I see him doing so in brutal fashion. His only worry is the wrestling of Okami which is quite good. However, Anderson showed against Chael Sonnen that he can finish off of his back even when he is in trouble.

So, will this main event be a good fight? I think it will be. It really is up to Anderson Silva to determine the outcome. Its his fight to win or lose.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 133 Preview: Is Yoshihiro Akiyama Fighting for His Job?

In Yoshihiro Akiyama’s short UFC career he has earned a Fight of the Night bonus in every fight. The only problem is he has gone 1-2, winning a very close fight at UFC 100 and dropping his last two fights. Akiyama has been entertaining to watch, …

In Yoshihiro Akiyama’s short UFC career he has earned a Fight of the Night bonus in every fight.

The only problem is he has gone 1-2, winning a very close fight at UFC 100 and dropping his last two fights.

Akiyama has been entertaining to watch, but entertaining losses can only get you so far.

Akiyama is 13-3 (2) overall in his career. The Japanese star has shown his great chin and ability to dish out shots just as hard as he can take them.

A combination of Akiyama’s cardio and poor planning have been his downfall in the last two fights.

Akiyama opened up strong in both bouts. Akiyama got the better of Chris Leben for much of their fight. Leben took advantage of a gassed Akiyama though, defeating him by submission with seconds left.

Akiyama faced Michael Bisping next, rocking the Brit in the first round. Bisping became more technical in his striking in the next two rounds and won the fight by decision.

Akiyama is never in a boring fight and as one of Japan’s top stars, he is a great asset to the UFC.

But Akiyama will have to do more in order to keep his job.

One step in the right direction would be to defeat his next opponent, Vitor Belfort at UFC 133.

Belfort was the most recent victim of middleweight champion Anderson Silva. A win over Belfort would put Akiyama’s career back on track.

Akiyama will come in highly motivated to win. Not just to keep his job, but as a dedication to the people who have had to suffer because of the terrible earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March.

If the fight is an exciting one and Akiyama loses, I don’t believe he will lose his job just yet. He will be on the chopping block, however, if he can’t turn it around.

Akiyama has international appeal and is an exciting fighter. But seeing him cut may become a reality if he does not win.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC: Is BJ Penn Overrated as a Champion?

BJ Penn is one of my favorite fighters to watch. Whenever he’s fighting on a card you can guarantee that I’ll be watching. That “Just Scrap” mentality is a perfect definition of the prodigy. He’s willing to throw down with anyone, any…

He’s also blessed with tremendous natural talent and physical ability. He was able to earn his black belt in Jiu-Jitsu after only three years of training and was the first non-Brazilian to ever win the black-belt division at the prestigious Mundial tournament. Along with being a natural at Jiu-Jitsu, he also has incredible flexibility and dexterity, lightning fast hand speed and a granite chin.

However, human nature tells us that it can be natural to slack off at times when you are blessed with the amount of talent that Penn possesses. He is frequently criticized for taking fights lightly or not putting in the necessary time and effort to prepare himself for a fight. He even mentioned himself that he used to try and see how little he could train and still win fights at the same time.

Although he may have the perfect mentality to fight, these characteristics can be a recipe for disaster. Fans of the Prodigy defend him to the end and always say that an in-shape BJ can hang with anyone and that if BJ was in shape he would have won the fights that he lost. When great champions are mentioned, his name is one of the first that comes to people’s minds.

However, is that recognition and reputation as one of the greatest champions deserved?

Penn, along with Randy Couture, is one of only two men in UFC history to win championships in two different weight classes. While this is an incredible feat, a closer look at his record in title fights leaves something to be desired. Penn is 5-5-1 in championship fights and is 0-1-1 in what can be deemed No. 1 contender fights.

Penn lost to Jens Pulver in his first shot at UFC gold and then battled to a draw with Caol Uno in his second attempt. After a win over Takanori Gomi at Rumble on the Rock he returned to the UFC and was granted an immediate match with welterweight champion Matt Hughes where he won the welterweight championship.

Those were the days of the UFC where title shots were handed out rather arbitrarily and when there weren’t a lot of contenders that one had to go through.

After a contract dispute that saw Penn leave the UFC, he returned to face Georges St-Pierre at UFC 58 where he lost a close split-decision. Despite the loss he was still granted a rematch with Hughes when St-Pierre suffered an injury. Penn lost the rematch with Hughes and subsequently returned to the lightweight division, where he was finally able to win the lightweight belt on his third try with a submission victory over Joe Stevenson.

He then defeated Sean Sherk in his first defense of the lightweight belt, lost a rematch to St-Pierre at welterweight, returned to defend the lightweight belt twice against Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez before dropping two in a row to Frankie Edgar. Penn then returned to welterweight to knock out Matt Hughes in 23 seconds and in a No. 1 contender fight, fought Jon Fitch to a draw.

There is no doubt that Penn is a truly gifted athlete and the fact that he won titles in two different weight classes is a tremendous accomplishment. However, it took him three attempts to win the lightweight belt, he never defended his welterweight title and only possesses a .500 winning percentage in title fights.

On top of that, he never really had to earn some of the title shots he’s been given and hasn’t emerged victorious in either of the No. 1 contender fights he’s fought in. Granted, there have been some controversial fights, such as the first St-Pierre fight and the first Edgar fight, but it’s extremely difficult to look at that 5-5-1 record and declare that he is one of the greatest champions in the sport’s history.

It looks even less impressive when one takes into account what other fighters had to do before they were granted title shots. Georges St-Pierre had to go through Jason Miller, Frank Trigg, Sean Sherk and Penn before he was given a second shot at the belt and Chuck Liddell had to wait years before he was given a shot at the interim title against Randy Couture.

While I don’t for one second dispute Penn’s talent and what he’s capable of, it does seem as though his record in championship fights is less than stellar and there are certainly fighters that should be mentioned before him when the discussion of all-time greatest champions is brought up.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Strikeforce Results: Alistair Overeem: A Great Fighter or Just Overrated?

Alistair Overeem is the current Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, the K-1 World Grand Prix Champion and the DREAM Interim Heavyweight Champion and is the only fighter to hold a championship in Strikeforce and K-1 at the same time. Impressive. He has a …

He has a storied career and he has fought some of the true legends of the sport such as Chuck Liddell, and he is seen by many as one of the best Heavyweights in the world at the moment.

Overeem is currently undefeated in his last 12 bouts. However, during this impressive streak, he has not faced anyone that has really tested his skills as a fighter or posed a serious threat to him, with the exception of Mirko Cro-Cop and Fabricio Werdum.

The fight with Cro-Cop ended in a no contest and Overeem scraped a win against Werdum.

With the exception of these fights, how do we know that none of the opponents that he has faced over this 12 fight streak posed a significant threat to Overeem?

Because he has managed to end all the fights in the first round via knockout and submission with 10 of these 12 fights not lasting longer than 3:42 of the first round. Again, impressive.

Does this show that Overeem is good? Of course it does. But then you look at the quality of the opponents that he faced.

Some of the opponents that he has fought during this streak include James Thompson, Gary Goodridge and Lee Tae-hyun. Two of these fighters have losing records and one has the same number of losses as wins.

In contrast, Overeem has faced Brett Rogers who is a very tough opponent, but Overeem managed to beat him convincingly.

His most recent fight was against Fabricio Werdum, which Overeem won by unanimous decision. While a win over Werdum is a great deal for any fighter, the way in which Overeem won was not impressive.

In fact, Overeem’s performance was so unconvincing, that many, including the commentators, thought that Werdum had won and FightMetric scored the fight 29-28 in favour of Werdum.

Despite Overeem’s kickboxing credentials, it was Werdum that landed more strikes throughout the fight and Werdum was also the better grappler in the fight.

Furthermore, Werdum was completely exhausted come the second round and Overeem could not act on the promise that he made before the bout and finish his opponent.

Somehow, it was Overeem that walked away with the win.

Neither fighter looked good in this fight, but this fight may have been an indication of how Overeem fares against tougher opponents.

If you look at Overeem’s record, you will see a plethora of “big names” such as Chuck Liddell, Minotauro Nogueira, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Sergei Kharitonov and Ricardo Arona. He has been finished via knockout and submission by all of these opponents.

So far, the statistics are pointing to the fact that Overeem might not be as good a fighter as everyone is making him out to be.

Don’t get me wrong, Overeem has got great potential and is a great fighter, but he is not performing at his best in fights that count which are against the some of the biggest names in this industry.

So, to answer the question of the article. Is Overeem that good or is he just overrated?

I think he is that good. I think he has got great potential. But, I also think that Overeem needs to step his game up against tougher opponents to show that he can be the best heavyweight in the world.

He definitely has the skill and the talent to be the best in the world. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be a champion in three different promotions. He certainly is an entertaining fighter to watch, as well as it is very rare that his fights end in decisions.

With the acquisition of Strikeforce, the pool of talent under the Zuffa banner has increased substantially, and hopefully this means that fighters will constantly be tested to show that they are legitimate contenders and similarly, champions.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Strikeforce Fedor vs. Henderson: Will Fedor Emelianenko Retire If He Loses?

July 30th is set to be one of the biggest nights in mixed martial arts history as the Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Dan Henderson moves up to heavyweight for one night to fight former Pride champion Fedor Emelianenko. Both fighters are already…

Both fighters are already legends of the sport, but their careers have been trending in very different directions over the past year. While Henderson has won back-to-back fights over Babalu Sobral and Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante while winning his title, major chinks have been formed in Emelianenko’s once thought to be impenetrable armor. “The Last Emperor” has lost back-to-back fights to Fabricio Werdum and Antonio Silva.

Following his most recent loss to Silva, Emelianenko spoke candidly in the post-fight interview about the possibility of calling an end to his legendary career and officially retiring. It was obvious from the look on his face that he felt not only physically defeated, but perhaps even mentally defeated by Big Foot.

We now know that Fedor did not retire after the loss and will instead by fighting Dan Henderson later this summer, but the big question regarding his future after this dream fight continues to be a dark cloud overhead.

As a 34-year old former Pride Heavyweight Champion, Fedor Emelianenko has really done it all in the sport. In addition to holding that title for over four years, Emelianenko also added a victory as the Pride Heavyweight Grand Prix champion in 2004. He was ranked as the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world for the better part of a decade, even while the UFC grew into the biggest mixed martial arts organization in the world.

During that time, there was essentially no debate whatsoever, other than from UFC President Dana White of course, that Emelianenko was the best heavyweight fighter on the planet.

But when Pride closed, Fedor found himself in a very weird position. His management at M1 Global was unable to come to an agreement with the UFC and he instead elected to compete for the upstart Affliction promotion where he earned the WAMMA heavyweight championship. During his time in Affliction, Emelianenko destroyed two former UFC heavyweight champions, Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia, in back-to-back fights.

Then things changed.

When Affliction closed its doors as a mixed martial arts organization, Emelianenko signed with Strikeforce. Things wouldn’t have been much different for the champion as he was still the top dog in the heavyweight division, but there was one difference that concerned a lot of experts.

Fedor had spent his entire career fighting in a ring, but the move to Strikeforce meant that he would now be fighting in a cage.

Other fighters had made a successful transition from one to the other in the past, but many had also struggled mightily not only with the scenery change, but also with the various rule changes.

It was in his first fight for Strikeforce that we got a glimpse of Fedor’s slide down as the No. 1 ranked heavyweight in the world. Emelianenko fought up-and-coming undefeated heavyweight prospect Brett Rogers in that first bout. While he ended up securing the victory with a violent knockout, it was his sketchy performance early in the fight that drew critics.

Those critics were proven right when tragedy struck in Fedor’s next fight against Fabricio Werdum. After landing what appeared to be a crushing punch early in the first round, Fedor quickly jumped into Werdum’s guard and looked to finish the fight with ground-and-pound.

According to Werdum, though, it was all a trap and the once perceived-to-be unbeatable Emelianenko fell for it hook, line and sinker. Just 1:09 into the first round, Werdum submitted the champion with a combination triangle-armbar.

The MMA world looked on in shock.

Still, most of us chalked the loss up to a simple lapse in judgment, rather than a physical inability. We assumed he would bounce back better than ever in his next fight, which ended up being a quarterfinals fight against Antonio “Big Foot” Silva in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament.

But we were wrong.

Big Foot looked like a big brother beating up on his little brother has he completely crushed our hero, causing a doctor’s stoppage between the second and third rounds after two punishing rounds in which Fedor looked completely outmatched. The retirement talk began immediately as the sadness was evident on the champion’s face.

Now entering the 35th professional fight of his career, the days may be coming to an end for the man appropriately nicknamed “The Last Emperor.”

Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson will be the first time in a very long while that Emelianenko will actually head into the fight as the larger man. Henderson, the Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, has competed as a middleweight as recently as April 2010 when he lost a tough fight to Jake Shields.

While Fedor’s losses to Werdum and Silva would likely be overlooked due to the “sneaky” victory Werdum achieved and the massive size advantage Silva had, a loss to “Hollywood” Henderson would mean three straight and would not be so easily dismissed by the MMA community. Even though Henderson is one of the best fighters of all-time, he is actually six years the elder of Emelianenko and will likely be conceding somewhere between 10-to-15 pounds in the fight.

Given that Fedor has done essentially everything there is to do in the sport other than fight for the UFC, it has essentially come down to love for the sport that has kept him around even this long. He has money to live very comfortably, he still has his health and his name is already etched in stone as perhaps the greatest fighter in the history of the sport.

A victory over Henderson could help propel Fedor back into the spotlight and another big money fight, but a loss will begin talks very similar to what happened to Chuck Liddell when he was nearing retirement. Is he too old? Is his head still in the game? Is he training hard enough? Was he ever as good as we were told?

Fedor Emelianenko has always been a tough person to gauge emotions from. Even in some of the biggest fights ever, he has always retained that almost eerily melancholy look on his face.

But he is still human. He has flaws, he has weaknesses and contrary to popular opinion, he has emotion.

That’s why I believe that if he does fall in this fight with Dan Henderson, it will be the last time we ever see Fedor Emelianenko in a mixed martial arts fight. It will be sad to see him go, but in the end, it will be the right decision for his health, his future and his legacy.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Tito Ortiz Is Underrated: A Closer Look at His Last 5 Fights

Tito Ortiz’s career has been in a nose dive…if you look at just his record over the past five years.He has not won a fight in his past five fights and is riding a three-fight losing skid.Earlier in his career, Ortiz was carrying the flag for MMA as h…

Tito Ortiz’s career has been in a nose dive…if you look at just his record over the past five years.

He has not won a fight in his past five fights and is riding a three-fight losing skid.

Earlier in his career, Ortiz was carrying the flag for MMA as he was the reigning light-heavyweight champion and defended his title a record five times.

Clearly he has fallen on much harder times.

His detractors are also quick to point out that his last two victories were over a washed-up fighter in Ken Shamrock.

While Ortiz does have a lot to prove if he wants to be relevant, he is not as washed up as people make him out to be.

He may not be winning, but if you look closely at his last five fights, he has only been stopped by one man and the 36-year old former-champion still has quite a bit of fight left in him.

Begin Slideshow