While a heavyweight collision against Alistair Overeem and Brock Lesnar will eclipse this Friday’s event, UFC 141 will also play host to a memorable lightweight affair.In the co-main event of the evening, The Ultimate Fighter Season 5 winner Nate Diaz …
While a heavyweight collision against Alistair Overeem and Brock Lesnar will eclipse this Friday’s event, UFC 141 will also play host to a memorable lightweight affair.
In the co-main event of the evening, The Ultimate Fighter Season 5 winner Nate Diaz will look to reemerge as a top contender in the division, that is if he can get past the red-hot Donald Cerrone.
Both men are similar in their approaches as the two personify the meaning of “fighter,” though the duo are a contrast in styles nonetheless.
The hype machine is working at full capacity with just two days until UFC 141. The main event between Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem will be the marquee attraction, but there are several under-card fights worth keeping an eye on as well. Here are th…
The hype machine is working at full capacity with just two days until UFC 141. The main event between Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem will be the marquee attraction, but there are several under-card fights worth keeping an eye on as well.
Here are three underdogs with a great chance of pulling off an upset.
Brock Lesnar
A lot has been made of Lesnar’s extended layoff after his loss to Cain Velasquez and his surgery earlier this year, but he’s a competitor above all else. He wouldn’t be stepping back into the cage if he didn’t seriously believe he had a chance to defeat Overeem.
When healthy, Lesnar was one of the sport’s most dominant figures and there’s no reason he can’t return to that level if he’s completely healed. Only one of his seven bouts have gone the distance, so expect a fast-paced fight that sends the fans home happy regardless of the result.
Prediction: Lesnar by TKO in the second round.
Anthony Njokuani
After starting his career 12-2, it’s been a rocky couple of years for Njokuani. He’s lost three of his past five fights and hasn’t shown as much of his trademark explosiveness recently. That said, he’s coming off an impressive victory over Andre Winner, so he should have momentum on his side.
He was originally slated to face Ramsey Nijem, but will instead fight Danny Castillo because Nijem was injured. Castillo will be fighting on short rest after beating Shamar Bailey last month, which should give the attacking style of Njokuani a better chance of success.
Prediction: Njokuani by TKO in the third round.
Luis Ramos
Ramos had been on quite a roll before getting knocked out 40 seconds into his fight with Erick Silva in August. He’s a good technical fighter, which doesn’t always please the casual fans, but he knows that to optimize his chances of winning, he needs to wear down his opponent rather than go for a quick KO.
His opponent on Friday night, Matt Riddle, has lost two straight bouts but is still considered the favorite. This is really a toss-up fight that will depend on whether or not Ramos can gain an early edge so he can keep the pace in his comfort zone. He should be able to do that en route to a decision victory.
Friday, December 30, will mark the first Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view that does not take place on a Saturday. The fight will air on a special night. With all of the pre-fight hoopla and attention that will be paid to the main event&mdash…
Friday, December 30, will mark the first Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view that does not take place on a Saturday. The fight will air on a special night. With all of the pre-fight hoopla and attention that will be paid to the main event—Alistair Overeem vs. Brock Lesnar—the new night feels appropriate.
The fight was moved due to New Years Eve festivities in Las Vegas. But the drawing power of such a monumental heavyweight matchup cannot be ignored. The UFC brass does not want to lose out of those sweet pay-per-view dollars, and that’s the reason we are treated to a Friday night fight.
In what seems to be par for the course this year, the main event of UFC 141 has had its share of scares and storylines.
Alistair Overeem has had issues obtaining a fight license in Nevada due to differences in drug testing policies between the United States and Holland. Because of this, Overeem also had to deal with the nuisance of repeated holiday travel. When you couple that with the recent news that his mother’s illness may be returning, the Dutchman has had a lot on his plate.
The one thing he has left to do before 2012 is to fight and defeat former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar. No big deal, right?
Lesnar has been dealing with a host of issues leading to the December 30 clash. The former UFC champion’s problems have been far more internal, with illness keeping him on the sidelines for 14 months.
After a October 2010 loss to Cain Velasquez—in which he ceded his championship—Lesnar faced a second bout of the intestinal disease diverticulitis. The disease resurfaced with a vengeance and the former World Wrestling Entertainment star was forced to undergo a major surgery to attempt to fix the problem.
According to his trainer, Brock Lesnar is now 100 percent and will be the best he has ever been. Will he regain the aura he once had?
The Breakdown
Alistair Overeem has faced many more distractions in the weeks leading up to the December fight. He has had to deal with the possible resurfacing of his mother’s cancer, numerous drug tests and flights and the switch to a new training camp.
These are all major distractions that can cause some fighters to lose mental focus. However, I just don’t see it having an effect on ‘Reem.
Overeem has been a professional fighter for over a decade. So, even though this is the biggest fight of his life, he will be able to put the other things in his life aside to focus on both Lesnar and getting a crack at the UFC heavyweight championship.
Anyone who saw Brock’s fights with Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez knows that he has not learned to take a punch the way that a lot of fighters have. This is mostly due to the fact that he didn’t get hit very often previously.
A modern UFC heavyweight must be able to take a shot to the head in order to survive. Current big men are simply too powerful and accurate inside the cage. Lesnar will get hit by Alistair Overeem in this fight and he will get hit hard. Can he take the heat? That is the real question.
The Prediction
Brock Lesnar is a wrestler above all else. He is smart enough to know that he can’t stand in front of Alistair “The Demolition Man” Overeem for any length of time and expect to survive. Lesnar must work into close range and do some dirty boxing and clinch work or take the fight to the mat.
The problem is that Overeem is just as powerful as Brock and possesses a much more diverse skill set. Overeem has K-1 kickboxing-level striking that is arguably the best in the UFC. Alistair can also submit opponents on the ground. When you add this to the fact that he has a very strong Thai clinch and good takedown defense, the result is not hard to predict.
Eventually Lesnar will leave himself open and that is all it will take. Overeem will win this fight by knockout—and it will happen by the end of round two.
(And now, two useless MMA commentators miss a fantastic standing heel-hook finish while trying to figure out how to pronounce “Vovchanchyn.” Props: EliteMMA)
Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere…
(And now, two useless MMA commentators miss a fantastic standing heel-hook finish while trying to figure out how to pronounce “Vovchanchyn.” Props: EliteMMA)
Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere…
Filed under: UFCAt the UFC 141 pre-fight press conference, UFC President Dana White, heavyweights Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem and lightweights Donald Cerrone and Nate Diaz will meet the media on Wednesday in Las Vegas, and we’ll carry the live vi…
At the UFC 141 pre-fight press conference, UFC President Dana White, heavyweights Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem and lightweights Donald Cerrone and Nate Diaz will meet the media on Wednesday in Las Vegas, and we’ll carry the live video here at MMAFighting.com.
UFC 141 is one of the biggest MMA cards of the year, and the pre-fight press conference will be the final opportunity for reporters and fans to hear from the fighters prior to their fights.
The UFC 141 press conference begins at 4 p.m. ET and the video is below.
(Editor’s note: The press conference is over, but just hit rewind button in player below to watch it again.)
Filed under: UFCFor UFC 141, the Vegas-based promotion is back home in the arms of the city that’s never more than one good heater away from turning this mess around. Will Friday night be the evening you finally outsmart the oddsmakers and let your obs…
For UFC 141, the Vegas-based promotion is back home in the arms of the city that’s never more than one good heater away from turning this mess around. Will Friday night be the evening you finally outsmart the oddsmakers and let your obsessive MMA knowledge pay you back for all those pay-per-views? Only one way to find out…
The line on Overeem has gone as high as -200 in some places before coming back down to the more reasonable levels we see here. We all know how Lesnar feels about being the underdog. Or at least, we know that asking him how he feels about it is a great way to get him to suddenly terminate your interview. But why are fans and oddsmakers so hot on Overeem, who didn’t look spectacular in his last outing, and has had every distraction possible without beginning an acting career in the lead-up to this fight?
If I had to guess, I’d say it’s a combination of Overeem’s experience and a general pessimism about Lesnar. A little over a year ago he was the baddest man on the planet to many onlookers, but one loss and one colon-chopping surgery later and people are wondering if he’ll retire if he can’t beat Overeem. For better or worse, the pendulum swings hard on the subject of Lesnar, and there’s very little middle ground to be found. But the fact is, the former NCAA wrestling champ presents a difficult challenge for Overeem, who hasn’t faced a takedown threat this significant since, well, ever. Seriously, look at Overeem’s record and find me another big man with Lesnar’s wrestling skills. It’s one thing to shut down Fabricio Werdum’s takedowns, but Lesnar is a whole different problem. If Overeem had spent months working diligently on his takedown defense — in fact, if he had spent months doing any one thing in any one place — I’d be more optimistic. With all the distractions, the roving camp, and the possibility of Octagon jitters for a man with an unproven ability to shut down a powerhouse wrestler, optimism is in short supply over here. My pick: Lesnar. There’s always the possibility that one good punch or knee from The Reem will change his world, but when I add up all the variables I have no problem justifying the slight underdog pick.
This feels like an instance of oddsmakers getting the right guy, but to the wrong degree. Cerrone deserves to be the favorite, especially after the year he’s had, but Diaz’s tenacity, durability, and submissions game make him impossible to count out. Even if Cerrone batters Diaz bloody on the feet — and he very well may — he’s probably going to have to keep it up for three rounds. Diaz doesn’t go down easily, and his sheer pace and pressure has been known to make opponents do dumb things from time to time. At the same time, Diaz doesn’t seem capable of performing the kind of risk/reward calculus necessary to conclude that he needs to get the fight to the mat. If you’re beating him on the feet, chances are it will only make him more committed to fighting on the feet. If that’s the case, his best hope might be to keep the heat on and trash-talk Cerrone into a stupid mistake. My pick: Cerrone. I couldn’t possibly justify favoring him to this extreme, so I’ll save it for the parlay.
Oh, did you forget Fitch was on this card? You’re probably not alone. It’s easy to get dwarfed by the enormity of Lesnar and Overeem, and the Cerrone-Diaz fight promises exactly the kind of fireworks that a typical Fitch fight all but rules out. As a result, he flies under the radar in another fight that he’ll most likely win with his methodical, technical brilliance on the mat. You have to hand it to him: the man is outstanding at what he does. It’s just too bad that so many fans don’t enjoy what he does, no matter how well he does it. Hendricks would seem to have the pure wresting credentials to strap on the singlet and go takedown for takedown with Fitch, but he doesn’t quite have the high-level experience to make you feel comfortable with picking him over a vet like Fitch. My pick: Fitch. It won’t be much fun to watch, but it will be in my parlay.
It’s kind of amazing that the 41-year-old Matyushenko still has this much steam. He’s not in the title hunt at the moment, but when you look at the loss column of his record all you see are serious players (okay, and Vernon White, who Vladdy will still tell you he should have beaten that night in 1999). Still, the odds reflect a general feeling that Gustafsson is on his way up the ranks, whereas Matyushenko is doing well just to hang around where he is. Could Matyushenko outwrestle the big Swede? Sure he could. But just because Phil Davis managed to do it, that doesn’t mean it’s easy. My pick: Gustafsson. That line is slightly ridiculous, however, so I’ll add it to the parlay.
Have other people been seeing a different Nam Phan than I have lately? Because the guy I’ve seen is competent and fairly well-rounded, but he’s the not the type of guy I’d lay 2-1 odds for when he’s fighting a submissions wiz who has yet to find out what defeat tastes like. Granted, we don’t know if Hettes’ chokes are as easily applied to the upper echelon guys, but while Phan’s fought the bigger names, he didn’t always do so well against them. It’s not so hard to imagine him being taken down and submitted, just like it’s not so hard to imagine me talking myself into taking one of the safer underdogs on the card just so I don’t feel like a wuss for going with so many favorites. My pick: Hettes. There’s a chance Phan could prove himself worthy of those odds, but I don’t think he’s done it yet.
Quick picks:
– Matt Riddle (-130) over Luis Ramos (even). Riddle knows he needs a win, so look for him to play it smart and get it by any means necessary.
– Ross Pearson (-280) over Junior Assuncao (+220). No, it’s not exactly daring, but it is a safe place for your hard-earned money.
The ‘For Entertainment Purposes Only’ Parlay: You know what? Forget my weak list of favorites and very slight underdogs. If you’ve got guts and a little pocket change, I recommend taking a look at this totally insane parlay that our friends at Middle Easy have stumbled upon. It’s a longshot that could make for a very happy New Year.
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