This is for anyone who missed Rustam Khabilov’s UFC debut on the TUF 16 Finale prelims. Vinc Pichel was the unfortunate soul to welcome the Russian to the Octagon on Saturday night. From the start.
This is for anyone who missed Rustam Khabilov’s UFC debut on the TUF 16 Finale prelims. Vinc Pichel was the unfortunate soul to welcome the Russian to the Octagon on Saturday night. From the start of the fight Pichel was out matched, and I think he knew it. In less than thirty seconds Khabilov had rag dolled Pichel with the first of many suplexes that would eventually knock Pichel out cold.
For those of you who don’t know, Khabilov is a Sambo practitioner. Not just any Sambo practitioner, but a Combat Sambo world champion. He is so good at what he does that he was awarded the highest sports title in Russia, the International Master of Sports in both Sambo and Hand-to-Hand Combat. When one thinks of the title International Master of Sports in Sambo, there is only one other man that comes to mind, and that’s Fedor Emelianenko.
Maybe I’m going a little over board with this, but I think Khabilov will be in the top 10 at Lightweight by the end of 2013, if he gets the step up in competition he proved he deserves. Pichel is by no means a high level Lightweight in the UFC, but the way Khabilov was able to control the fight and finish Pichel in less than two minutes and thirty seconds makes me optimistic for his future.
With the Lightweight division being one of the most stacked divisions in the UFC I think the Russian can become a top 10 fighter in a year or two if he fights and wins on a regular basis. I would like to see Khabilov matched up with John Makdessi, Mac Danzig, or possibly George Sotiropoulos. Leave me a comment and let me know how you guys feel.
I can’t wrap my head around that fact that Johnny Hendricks won’t be getting the next crack at the welterweight title. This isn’t the first time a fighter has had to wait for a title.
I can’t wrap my head around that fact that Johnny Hendricks won’t be getting the next crack at the welterweight title. This isn’t the first time a fighter has had to wait for a title fight, but this may be the most disturbing, seeing that Hendricks is the clear number one contender. Anyone that believes that Nick Diaz is more deserving of a fight with Georges St-Pierre is a fool, plain and simple.
Nick Diaz is coming off a loss in his last fight against Carlos Condit. People argue that Diaz should’ve been awarded the win against Condit, but he lost. In the history of the UFC, no fighter has ever been awarded a title shot while coming off a loss, with the exception of immediate rematches due to controversy or if there were no other options due to injury. Johnny Hendricks is on a five fight win streak and is injury free, so no one can say there aren’t other options for opponents. The controversial decision excuse doesn’t apply, because it’s not as if Diaz is fighting Carlos Condit. He chose to cry about his loss to Condit and then “retire” from MMA, and now his first fight back will be for the belt. Does this make sense to anyone?
The only reason Diaz was considered for a title shot in the first place was because at the time, he was the Strikeforce champion, and it was intriguing to see two champions fight each other. If Diaz wasn’t the Strikeforce champion, no one would think that he deserved to fight Georges St-Pierre. Before he came back to the UFC, he had beaten KJ Noons, Evangelista Santos, and Paul Daley; not the strongest argument that your next in line to fight the UFC champ. I agree that after beating BJ Penn at UFC 137, Diaz’s scheduled title fight with GSP was justified. Unfortunately for him, Condit stepped in as a replacement, beat him, and now that Penn looks like he should retire after loosing to Rory MacDonald, Diaz doesn’t have much of an argument that he still deserves a title fight.
The only angle that Dana White could be playing, is the pay-per-view buys. If I had to guess, I’d say that a fight between Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz would sell more pay-per-views than Georges St-Pierre and Johnny Hendricks. This would arguably create a small boost in revenue for the UFC and would be an understandable business move, but as a boss, it’s as if he is denying a hardworking employee a promotion, that he clearly deserves, just to make a few more bucks.
I respect Dana White for everything he does and the decisions he makes, but regardless of his reason for giving Diaz a title shot before Hendricks, I strongly disagree, and I don’t think it can be justified by anyone. If Dana White won’t reconsider, then I implore him not make the same mistake in the future, as I’m certain that the real MMA fans find this as baffling as I do.
Hector Lombard is coming off a vicious knock out of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace Rousimar Palhares, securing his first win inside the UFC and the biggest win of his career. Now in the aftermath we are.
Hector Lombard is coming off a vicious knock out of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace Rousimar Palhares, securing his first win inside the UFC and the biggest win of his career. Now in the aftermath we are left with the question of who to match the Cuban Aussie power house with next. Here are a few of my choices:
The winner of Stann vs Silva.
Both Brian Stann and Wanderlei Silva are brawlers that would provide an exciting stand up war with Lombard. The only problem is the two are fighting at Light Heavyweight at the moment. If Brian Stann wins he has stated that he is going back down to Middleweight, where as Wanderlei Silva is looking to stay at Light Heavyweight. Personally I think Stann is going to win this so there won’t be a problem, but if Silva gets passed Stann it will show he still has a chin. Remember money talks and Wanderlei is a company man, if Uncle Dana comes knocking, Wanderlei will answer the call.
The winner of Boetsch vs Phillipou.
Lombard vs either Boetsch or Phillipou could potentially be a number one contender fight. If Boetsch wins there could be a rematch in the making with Lombard, both fighters entered injured in their first encounter; thus causing an uneventful bout. If Phillipou wins in impressive fashion a battle with Lombard would be perfect. Both men are exciting and would potentially be a good match ups for Lombard.
Chris Weidman.
Chris Weidman is an option, but don’t expect this one to happen. I don’t see the UFC throwing Weidman their current golden boy against Lombard. Lombard poses too many threats to Weidman, and after an unimpressive bout with Boetsch I don’t see the UFC jumping to give Lombard a title shot if he beats Weidman. Not to mention Weidman is coming off of an injury, as well as the destruction of his home by Hurricane Sandy. It’s been a rough couple of months for Weidman and I think the UFC will give Weidman a tune up fight upon his return.
The loser of Bisping vs Belfort.
Hector Lombard in his post fight interview with Karyn Brant called out Michael Bisping for his next fight. I think this would be an interesting fight, and it probably would have turned into a war. There’s just one problem, and that’s Vitor Belfort. Vitor almost stole Jon Jones’ title in his last fight by way of arm bar, and is now scheduled to fight Bisping in what is possibly a number one contender’s bout. I don’t see Bisping getting past Vitor, and if this happens rather than letting Lombard fight Vitor; I would like to see Lombard fight Bisping. Let Vitor have another shot against Anderson Silva, he earned it for stepping up on short notice against Jones. However if Bisping wins, a bout with Belfort is sure to cause fireworks. Both men are more than willing to stand and bang, and the winner would be one step closer to a title shot.
With UFC on Fox 5 in the books, it’s hard to pin point one fighter that looked more dominant in all aspects of the game than Dennis Siver. What was supposed to be a war.
With UFC on Fox 5 in the books, it’s hard to pin point one fighter that looked more dominant in all aspects of the game than Dennis Siver. What was supposed to be a war between two exciting fighters, turned out to be a clinic put on by the German kickboxer.
Nam Phan is as durable a fighter as we’ve seen in a long time. To his credit he did not quit at any point during the 15 minute beating he took at the hands of Siver. From the opening bell Siver looked to keep Phan at a distance with his quick and powerful kicks. Despite pleas from his corner to slow his pace, Siver maintained an impressive barrage of strikes from bell to bell. The German was so effective with his game plan that Phan never had the chance to mount an offensive through out the fight. This by far was the best Dennis Siver to step foot in the Octagon
The entire MMA world knows of the devastating striking that Siver possesses, but in this fight he looked to mix in his ever improving ground game as well. Siver took down the Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu black belt at will, showing off a much improved offensive wrestling game. After three dominant rounds in which Siver unleashed some viscious kicks and dominant ground and pound he got the nod from the judges. The judges saw it 30-25, 30-24, and 30-26 all in favor of Dennis Siver.
Nam Phan is by no means a title contender, but after the performance that was put on by Siver it is clear that the German is. If Siver continues to work diligently on his wrestling and BJJ, I predict we will see him challenge for the title by the end of 2013. As seen in his post fight interview it is clear that Siver is looking for a fight with a top contender. Going as far as to suggest the Korean Zombie in an interview with Ariel Helwani. I like this fight, and with Siver’s improved take down defense and wrestling look for him to out strike the Korean Zombie en route to a decision or TKO win.
Controversy struck again at UFC 154 when Patrick Cote was declared the winner due to Alessio Sakara being disqualified. What looked like a knockout victory for Sakara, was quickly turned down by the ref as.
Controversy struck again at UFC 154 when Patrick Cote was declared the winner due to Alessio Sakara being disqualified. What looked like a knockout victory for Sakara, was quickly turned down by the ref as he determined that the knockout was due to illegal strikes to the back of Cote’s head. It was an action-packed back and forth battle until the fight ended in controversy, so the only obvious solution, is to have a rematch.
I don’t think the decision to disqualify Sakara was as obvious as Joe Rogan made it out to be. After replaying the supposed illegal strikes numerous times, only two strikes actually landed to the back of the head of Cote. All the other strikes landed to the ear, just behind the ear, or the neck of Cote. Nobody supported the decision to disqualify Erick Silva when two of his strikes landed to the back of Carlo Prater’s head, yet now that Sakara is in the same situation, that few have stated their disagreement. Even in the slow motion reply, Joe Rogan was calling strikes “illegal”, when they clearly weren’t. What confuses me most, is how Rogan immediately defended Erick Silva is his disqualification, yet he was completely on board with Dan Miragliotta’s decision to disqualify Sakara.
Regardless of the official decision, I was still successful in correctly predicting the breakdown of how this fight would play out; Sakara having the faster, more technical striking that would give Cote problems. Because of his fight with Brian Stann, Sakara’s chin was underestimated, and he was able to come back from a few big strikes to take back control of the fight. Every MMA fan should acknowledge Cote’s iron jaw and respectable punching power, but to be blunt, his striking is overrated and isn’t on Sakara’s technical striking level. It’s seems uncanny, but of the twenty three more credible internet predictions I’ve read, only four had Sakara winning, myself included. Then again, the same can be said for me correctly predicting the outcome of the Sam Stout / John Makdessi fight.
Maybe now the predictions and betting odds will shift and seem a little more even in the rematch, assuming there will be a rematch. I’ll still be taking Sakara to beat Cote next time around, and I foresee many more people agreeing with me. Not only will Sakara win the rematch, he will finish him again, only this time, it will be under less controversial means.
After out predicting every MMA website for UFC on FX 5, I wasn’t expecting another near perfect prediction outcome for UFC 153, but once again, my predictions topped them all. Not only did I get.
After out predicting every MMA website for UFC on FX 5, I wasn’t expecting another near perfect prediction outcome for UFC 153, but once again, my predictions topped them all. Not only did I get eleven out of twelve predictions correct, but most of the fights played out exactly as I as I proclaimed. Of course, it’s not about the people making predictions; it’s about the fighters in the cage, now on to the event recap.
Cristiano Marcello vs. Reza Madadi
While this was a fight that could have gone either way, it was great to see Marcello improve on his striking. In the opening second of the round he was tagging Madadi with crisp strikes and landed a spinning back kick on more than one occasion. Madadi fired back in the second round with wild Chris Leben like punches that rung Marcello’s bell. For two fighters who like to fight on the ground, the majority of the fight was spent of the feet. It was interesting to see a dogfight between these two fighters seeing they are both showcase technical ground skills. I’ll have to watch this fight again to be sure, but I think the judges got the decision right. Marcello should be matched up with Evan Dunham in his next fight, while Madadi should fight Tony Ferguson.
Chris Camozzi vs. Luiz Cane
Joe Rogan said it best when he said that Cane just didn’t look like the same fighter who beat Sokoudjou and Steve Cantwell. If his less than perfect performance can be attributed to it being his first cut to middleweight, then he should come back stronger in his next fight. Camozzi was simply beating Cane to the punch and land cleaner and more often, I personally feel that Camozzi’s performance wasn’t so much good, as Cane’s was surprisingly disappointing. Nonetheless, Camozzi did win the fight, and therefore deserves a fight with Micahel Kuiper or Riki Fukuda ,while Cane should fight Karlos Vemola.
Sergio Moraes vs. Renee Forte
For a fight that nearly went the full fifteen minutes, it’s rather easy to sum it the recap. The difference in this fight was the takedowns and Jiu-Jitsu of Moraes. Forte had brief moments of success on the feet, but he wasn’t able to stop Moraes from getting the takedown, and that’s what won Moraes the first two rounds. In the third round, he was able to take Forte’s back and secure a rear naked choke. No potential match up opinions for this one, I’ll let the UFC deal with it.
Diego Brandao vs. Joey Gambino
Brandao may still have, what many would call, a reckless style, but it was enough to beat Gambino all three rounds to earn himself the win. I was surprised that so many people were picking Gambino to win the fight, to put it simply, if Gambino was outclassed by Steven Siler, why were they so confident that he would be able to beat Brandao? His performance over Gambino earns himself back some credit to his skills as a fighter. There were moments of success for Gambino; he was able to land a number of significant strikes while on the feet. He was even able to get top position on the ground for a brief period of time, but looking at the fight in its entirety, Brandao showcased better striking, wrestling and Jiu-Jistu. I’d love to see Brandao fight Jimy Hettes next, as for Gambino, he should fight Cole Miller.
Demian Maia vs. Rick Story
Maia proved that his win over Dong Hyun Kim wasn’t a fluke. Just like his fight with Dong Hyun Kim, it took Maia no time at all to take Story’s back. Instead of putting Story on his back and getting the mount position, Maia immediately tried to secure a rear naked choke. Story was able to defend well until Maia countered with a neck crank, Story couldn’t fight it, and had to tap out. After two wins over two strong opponents, I’d like to see Maia fight someone in the elite of the welterweight division, such as Erick Silva. As for Rick Story, he should fight James Head.
Phil Davis vs. Wagner Prado
This fight was nothing like their first one, Davis completely dominated Prado and threw him around like a rag doll. Prado was extremely pumped for this fight, but you could see his confidence fade away more and more as the fight went on. After getting taken down at will in round one, Prado was desperate to avoid any futher takedown attempts. When Prado sprawled to stuff a takedown, he opened himself up for an anaconda choke, and Davis rolled right into it, forcing Prado to tap. After such a dominating performance, Davis should draw a top ten light heavyweight for his next fight, and Ryan Bader would be a perfect opponent. As for Prado, he should fight Fabio Maldonado.
Erick Silva vs. Jon Fitch
Absolutely deserved to win fight of the night, this fight was literally nonstop back and forth action for fifteen minutes. Fitch didn’t necessarily change his style of fighting, but no one can say that he was boring in this fight. He nearly finished Silva with an armbar which was probably his closest attempt to finish, but he had Silva’s back for a good portion of the fight and was trying for the rear naked choke. Silva came close to choking out Fitch in the second round with a deep rear naked choke, but Fitch was able to fight through it and escape. He came back in the third round and completely out wrestled Silva for fifteen minutes to win a unanimous decision. I thought Fitch looked outstanding, and he needs another top welterweight for his next fight. I think the winner of B.J Penn and Rory McDonald would be the best match up.
Glover Teixeira vs. Fabio Maldonado
As dominating a victory it was for Teixeira, I’m not surprised that the fight played out the way it did. The UFC tried matching up Teixeira against “Shogun” Rua and “Rampage” Jackson, so Maldonado was a bit of a step down on the talent scale. After witnessing his inability to stop the takedown attempts of Igor Pokrajac, there was no way he was going to be able to stop Teixeira. Everybody has found a new respect for Maldonado for not quiting and even landing a heavy hook that wobbled Teixeira, but that doesn’t shield the fact that Teixeira completely dominated this fight, both on the feet and on the ground. I can see Teixiera being a title challenger in the near future. I’d like to see Teixeira face the winner of “Shogun” Rua and Alexander Gustafsson.
Antonio Nogueira vs. Dave Herman
After what Nogueira did to him, I don’t think Herman will badmouth Jiu-Jitsu anytime soon. As I predictied, Big Nog had the advantage on the feet as well. Herman didn’t land a lick of offense and took multiple shots to the head body and head. Herman just couldn’t find his range in the fight and Noueira picked him apart everywhere until he submitted him with the armbar. Nogueira is still just coming in at the top ten of the heavyweight division, if he wants to climb the ranks he should fight either Fabricio Werdum, or Antonio Silva. As for Herman, Mike Russow would be a suitable opponent.
Anderson Silva vs. Stephan Bonnar
Whether you’re a Stephan Bonnar fan or not, I doubt anyone is surprised about the outcome of this fight. Bonnar looked strong early, although Silva was never in any real trouble. Even when Silva was eating punches, he was in complete control on never looked dazed even for a second. As he always does, Silva spent a few minutes playing with opponent and then explodes on them with literally any strikes you can imagine. This time he caught Bonnar with a knee to the sternum that dropped him and he finished Bonnar off with a few follow up punches. Silva has stated he will not be fighting at light heavyweight again, so his next opponent should be the winner of Tim Boetsch and Chris Weidman. As for Bonnar, I don’t want to see him retire until he gets at least one more win. I’ve always wanted to see a trilogy between him and Forrest Griffin.
