UFC 95: Free on Spike

[XUDawg]

I was waiting for FightDr to post this, but I guess I'll have to:
UFC 95 is Saturday, in England. It's free on Spike, because, as far as their PPVs go, it doesn't have any HUGE fights. That said, it is a way better card than the Fight Nights, and looks, to this MMA fan, to be a better all around card than some of the cards that have those HUGE fights.

Main event:
Diego Sanchez vs. Joe "Daddy" Stephenson: I like Stephenson's grappling game better than the Nightmare's but he just seems to get cut badly in just about every fight that isn't against a one-dimensional grappler. For those of you who haven't seen him, he will roll and roll and roll, trying submission attempt after submission attempt. It is fun to watch, even if you are a novice MMA fan or like striking and think the ground stuff is boring. He can probably out-roll and submit any ground fighter other than B.J. Penn in his weight class, but he gets beat and cut up. Still, I love the submission game, and I'll go with Stephenson.

Edit: It occurred to me I didn't give any props to Sanchez. Sanchez is big for 155 (used to be a welterweight), and his only slip-ups have been against AKA teammates Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch, two great fighters who are huge for the 170 class. So he is TOUGH. I just like Joe Daddy's heart and ground skills.

Dan Hardy v. Rory Markham: These dudes bore me. Hardy beat Gono, but who hasn't? Anyway, this is the fight where you go to fridge to get a beer, or order a round of shots at the bar if you're at B-Dubs, and hope that there's a quick KO before you get back. Hardy's my pick by whatever happens fastest .

Nate Marquardt vs. Wilson Gouveia: Great fight with two guys with contrasting styles. Nate the Great is a well-rounded guy that I imagine is going to want to keep this fight standing, where he has the advantage. Gouveia is the slightly better ground fighter, but has yet to face the level of competition that Marquardt has. I think Gouveia might be in for a surprise as to how the big boys fight. A lot like the Machida-Thiago Silva fight in the sense that Silva was obviously surprised what facing a real fighter looks and feels like. I'm going Marquardt TKO.

Demian Maia v. Chael Sonnen: Two UFC up and comers. Maia is a career grappler who got his MMA career started late in his twenties. He has a top TOP notch BJJ game. Chael Sonnen is a dude who is BIG for the 185 weight class (a lot like Marquardt), and has ridden a lot of WEC success into this UFC fight. I'm sure he'll be tough with Hendo and Team Quest in his corner, but his competition in WEC hasn't impressed me enough to think he's going to beat a guy with Maia's submission skills. I'm guessing Sonnen will look like he's dominating the fight, and he will be, until he makes one false move and gets caught in a guillotine choke while standing. Maia by submission.

Koscheck v. Paulo Thiago: If you don't know, you better call somebody. Koscheck by brutal KO. Early. This dude is a great fighter. If you've never seen him fight, if you hate MMA, tune in tomorrow just to watch him. Thiago could be anybody other than GSP, and the outcome would be the same. Man on a mission.

Terry Etim v. Brian Cobb: See Hardy v. Markham. Cobb's one of Urijah Faber's homeboy's so I guess I'll go with him, although I have no idea. Help me out, FightDr. Cobb by whatever he's good at- rear naked choke, i guess.

Junior Dos Santos v. Stefan Struve: Dos Santos, a so-so HW, beats the pulp out of the token Euro they always throw into these O2 Arena UFC fights. Struve's big, but it doesn't matter. Dos Santos by whatever he feels like at the time.

The rest of the fights aren't worth talking about. Paul Kelly is another token Euro, who gets too much respect for fighting with an overrated Michael Bisping at Wolfslair Academy. He's a stiff, but he'll probably win, because he's fighting an even bigger stiff so that the Brits have someone to cheer for. Eklund's been around, and fighting some young undefeated dude who I've never seen fight. I guess Eklund.

Apologies to the fighters who I've picked to win. Other than rolling with my boy Lyoto Machida to a string of payoffs, I haven't been too lucky picking fights.

Edit Part Deux: I forgot you palookaphiles were all geeked about the Pavlik fight. I guess I'm on my own.

[Guest]

We finally have someone other than me starting a UFC topic. Now I'm f-ing pumped and it's about time.
I actually like this card to be honest but will be DVR'ing it because I will be at the Pavlik fight.
Diego at 155 is very very interesting to me and he could make some noise there. He will outclass Joe Daddy and beat him up.
Nate Marquardt is in my top 4 favorite fighters and I love watching him get better every time out. I expect a dominating victory.

I also like Sonnen and think he is a legit title contender, but so is Maia. This is a huge fight and I'm going with Sonnen. He fought Filho twice which will have him prepared for the BJJ skills.

Josh Koscheck is another guy who gets better every time he gets in the octagon. I wouldn't call him great however. Not yet anyway. He has been in with the best, GSP and Thiago Alves, and he'll be ready tonight.

[Guest]

I'm a little confused by this:

Koscheck v. Paulo Thiago: If you don't know, you better call somebody. Koscheck by brutal KO. Early. This dude is a great fighter. If you've never seen him fight, if you hate MMA, tune in tomorrow just to watch him. Thiago could be anybody other than GSP, and the outcome would be the same. Man on a mission.

Mainly this part I guess:

Thiago could be anybody other than GSP, and the outcome would be the same. Man on a mission.

[XUDawg]

I meant that anybody could be standing across Koscheck this fight, other than GSP, and Kos would maul him. I really think that Alves fight was a product of Koscheck taking it late. He was already preparing for the Yoshida fight (and we saw how that went!) before he took it. I think on a level playing filed, Kos beats Alves handily. He beats anybody other than GSP, including Fitch. And maybe in a year or two, GSP as well. His motor is amazing, and his standup power and accuracy are getting pretty sick.

That was my point. My prediction would be the same no matter who was standing across from him, other than GSP. The fact that it's Paulo Thiago only makes it easier.

[Guest]

I like Kos a lot but think Thiago Alves beats him 90 out of 100 times.
I give Alves a very legit shot at beating GSP.

[justmebd]

I've become a huge Koschek fan in the last year. I think he beats Thiago if he had a full camp to prepare instead of about 10 days.

It's too bad Kos' opponent is an unknown, otherwise you make Kos the headliner for this.

[justmebd]

I should've known that by rooting for Koschek, I'd jinx him.

Then again, I recently found out he's a Yinzer fan from Western PA, so maybe he got what was coming to him.

Ahhh shit, I still like the guy and I'm pissed he lost. It was a nice shot, but I do think the ref stepped in a little too early. Kos was definitely hurt, but he was going into a guard position and Thiago hadn't pounced.

But hey, what are you gonna do?

[Guest]

Koscheck's eyes rolled into the back of his head, he was out and I agree with the stoppage 100%.
Pretty solid card with some nice knockouts and subs.
Marquardt looked awesome and Diego could be a force at 155.
Seeing 9 out of the 10 fights on Spike is a great thing, I love the UFC.

[XUDawg]

Every once in a while, people get caught. It happened to Urijah Faber. It happened to W. Silva, although not against an altogether inferior opponent. But it happens. Kos was having his way with that stiff, and forgot about that the stiff could hit back. I'm not going to argue about the stoppage, because he got caught which is all it takes. It was very strange that teh stiff just assumed it was a KO, not even attempting to pounce on Kos, who was recovering by the time the ref stepped in. A strange display of overconfidence from a guy who looked like a no talent ass clown.

Maia caught Sonnen in a sub when Sonnen was fighting a little overconfidently, just like I assumed he would, although I thought it would be standing for some reason.

Stephenson fought like an absolute moron. Trying to please the fans by keeping the fight standing is okay if your striking skills are on par with the guy you're fighting, but if your ground skills are superior and your standup's inferior, why do you care about crowd pleasing? Especially once the third round rolls around, and all signs point to a decision loss. Terrible judgment by Joe Daddy. I know you want to please Dana and Joe Silva by giving the crowd a good show, but losing fights isn't going to help you stay in the UFC. Awful.

Marquardt took Gouveia apart methodically. Awesome performance.

[justmebd]

I still say Koschek could've recovered (because of the stiff's hesitation), but it's a moot point.

Anyway, Koschek's real problem at this point is he's making dumb decisions when it comes to his opponents. While the "I'll fight anyone, anytime" slogan is admirable, his last two decisions on that angle resulted in losses. He needs to think about his future and fight quality opponents. Fighting mooks for the sake of fighting isn't doing him any good at this point.

In October he lost a tough decision that I think would've been an easy victory if he'd had a full camp. Last weekend, he got caught by a lucky shot against an opponent he knew next to nothing about.

A good manager would've said "no" to both fights. While I don't think the first loss hurt his standings much because he did Dana White a favor, this loss sets him back a year. He's going to have to win his next 2-3 fights before he'll get a title shot now.

I missed the main event (fell asleep, everything is an hour later in Phoenix). Plus, once Koschek lost, I lost my enthusiasm for the rest of the card.

[Guest]

Saying no to fights in the UFC isn't a good thing brother, it'll get you in hot water with the higher ups.
It has gotten many people released.
The UFC is a lot different than boxing and anyone can beat just about anyone, that's why it's the best sport in the world.
He doesn't deserve a title shot, he got destroyed once already by GSP and got worked by Alves (short camp, I know) and would have been 2-3 fights away WITH A WIN.
Koscheck is a damn good fighter and something like this will make him a lot better