UFC 94 1/31 Georges St. Pierre vs BJ Penn

[Guest]

It's one week away from today and I am more excited for this fight than any i the history of the sport.
Easily 2 of my favorite fighters and 2 of the best in the world today.
This is going to be a classic, a true megafight.
Penn, the current 155 pound title holder and former 170 pound champ moving back up to 170 to try to become the first fighter in UFC history to hold 2 belts at the same time.
What a night it's going to be.

Also 2 undefeated light heavyweight title contenders are facing off, Lyoto Machida and Thiago Silva.
It's going to be fun.

MAIN CARD
Welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre vs. lightweight champ B.J. Penn (for welterweight title)
Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva
Stephan Bonnar vs. Jon Jones
Karo Parisyan vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Nate Diaz vs. Clay Guida

PRELIMINARY CARD
Jon Fitch vs. Akihiro Gono
Manny Gamburyan vs. Thiago Tavares
John Howard vs. Chris Wilson
Jake O'Brien vs. Christian Wellisch
Matt Arroyo vs. Dan Cramer

[XUDawg]

It's one week away from today and I am more excited for this fight than any i the history of the sport.
Easily 2 of my favorite fighters and 2 of the best in the world today.
This is going to be a classic, a true megafight.
Penn, the current 155 pound title holder and former 170 pound champ moving back up to 170 to try to become the first fighter in UFC history to hold 2 belts at the same time.
What a night it's going to be.

Also 2 undefeated light heavyweight title contenders are facing off, Lyoto Machida and Thiago Silva.
It's going to be fun.

MAIN CARD
Welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre vs. lightweight champ B.J. Penn (for welterweight title)
Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva
Stephan Bonnar vs. Jon Jones
Karo Parisyan vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Nate Diaz vs. Clay Guida

PRELIMINARY CARD
Jon Fitch vs. Akihiro Gono
Manny Gamburyan vs. Thiago Tavares
John Howard vs. Chris Wilson
Jake O'Brien vs. Christian Wellisch
Matt Arroyo vs. Dan Cramer

All of the trashtalking Penn is doing is interesting. The guy has never really got it going as a WW, so I'm not sure why he's talking so much. Probably just hype to earn him more money (I'm sure he's getting a little bit of the PPV $).

I am more excited to see Machida fight. I love his style. Critics who say he runs away from people don't give him enough credit. He strikes just as much as everyone else. He just refuses to hang around waiting to get hit back after he does his damage. The best way to win a fight is to do more damage than the other guy. The best way to do this is to not let him hit you.

I can't figure out why no one realizes they have to press the action. Ortiz spent all three rounds acting pissed off that Machida wouldn't come inside. But Ortiz never tried the same. His take down attempts were half-hearted, and he danced around as much as Machida. But Machida was more effective.

Love the guy. Silva's good too, but I think his throat-slashing celebrations are coming to an end on Saturday.

[Guest]

I am one of those people that does not like Machida or his style. He is very good, don't get me wrong.
The throat slash is great by Silva and we'll see it Saturday.
What a great card.

As far as BJ Penn, I love this guy. I love GSP as well. I really think it's going to exceed the hype and be out of this world.
The 2 best all around fighters in the world in my opinion.
BJ dominated GSP the first round of their first fight and could have easily won rounds 2 and 3. It was a close entertaining bout and Saturday should be much of the same.

[Big Money Player]

Hey Doc, Is this going to be a good card? I love watching this stuff, but I don't know too many of the current fighters... I ask because I bought the last UFC and frankly thought it sucked. Thanks.

[Guest]

This is no bullshit, UFC 94 might be the best card top to bottom I have ever seen.
The 2 best fighters in the world going head to head.
Two undefeated title contenders fighting in Machida vs Silva
Nate Diaz vs Clay Guida, wow. Exciting styles and well rounded guys, it might be the show stealer.
Former title contender Jon Fitch is fighting Gona, should be a war.
Karo Parisyan is one of my all time favorites and he needs a win bad. Kim is 2-0 in the UFC.
Buy it
Thank me later.
If you honestly tell me after you didn't enjoy it, you'll get yourself a ClevelandFan.com shirt and a crisp $20 bill.

[bustedknuckles]

Dr nailed it w/o even mentioning the return of Stephan Bonnar from the knee injury...I still think he has the potential to be a champion...he gave the current and previous LHW champions everything they wanted so he still may get to the top.

I enjoyed UFC 93 because I'm a huge Dan Henderson (and Rich Franklin) fan, but 94 is so loaded it's sick and win or lose Saturday I'll still say BJ Penn is the pound for pound king in the MMA world.

[Guest]

I did leave out Bonnar, a tough as nails fighter.
That just shows how deep this card is.
I can't wait.

[Big Money Player]

Thanks guys, looks like my Saturday plans are made!

[peeker643]

Thanks guys, looks like my Saturday plans are made!

Same couch, different channel huh Big Money Player??

[Big Money Player]

Thanks guys, looks like my Saturday plans are made!

Same couch, different channel huh Big Money Player??

WTF?!?!? Well, yeah...lol

[Guest]

1 more day to go.
Hell yes!!!!!!!
It's going to be one helluva night.

[bustedknuckles]

Predictions? Or do we need to wait for the full Preview? This is the sporting event of the weekend IMO.

[Guest]

My picks:
Main event winner = The fans. I'm torn on who I think will win. Might make a pick in my preview.
The others:
Silva
Jones
Karo
Diaz
Fitch
Tavares
Wilson
O'Brien
Arroyo

[bustedknuckles]

I'll take:

Penn
Silva
Bonnar
Kim
Guida
Fitch
Tavares
Howard
O'Brien
Arroyo

[Guest]

I'm pretty pumped for the Diaz Guida scrap, might be a classic.
2 tough ass cardio machines.
Just a great all around card.

[bustedknuckles]

Yes, Diaz/Guida is my pick for FOTN and Penn/St Pierre is KOOTN...no choice for submission though...I'm thinking a lot of bombs and KOs on this card.

[Guest]

[Guest]

Gono came out with the fake fro and then gave it to Fitch to wear, it was pretty funny:

[Guest]

This is going to be f-ing awesome

[swerb]

Preview posted ...

[Guest]

I'm going with GSP tonight. I just don't see him losing his belt.

I love Silva too. His straight ahead attack will be the difference.
Machida hasn't been in with the best competition:
Tito,the game has past him by.
Sokoudjou, what a bust this dude is.
4 out of his 5 UFC fight have gone to the cards.
Only 14 more hours to go.

[Guest]

GSP is the pound for pound king, the best fighter in the world and it's not even close.
Silva fought Machida's fight and paid the price.
Recap coming soon.

[Doc]

I thought it was a pretty good card, all things considered. Thought there would be 6 fights televised, but, when all but 1 goes the distance (or 4 rounds in GSPs case), I guess 5 is all we got.

Quick thoughts...

-I love Anderson Silva...but I don't know how you can't put GSP up there for best pound for pound. Totally dominant performance. I like BJ Penn a lot. I was pulling for him. But, the better fighter won. BJ Penn is so talented...but he just doesn't seem to have the heart that GSP has. Then again, if I was getting totally dominated, I'd probably look that way, too. Maybe, one day, GSP will bump up to 185 for a match with Silva. Or, maybe it's just wishful thinking. But, I can hope.

-GSP/Alves should also be an awesome fight. If there's one 170 pounder in the UFC that is big and strong enough to matchup with GSP, Alves is that guy. That was a huge reason that GSP dominated BJ, the size advantage. GSP won't have that luxury vs. Alves. If he gets past Alves, I guess that leaves the TUF guys like Koscheck and Sanchez. Decent fights. Probably leaving someone else out.

-Love Lyoto Machida. Just a different style that guys can't figure out. Underestimated striker, very slippery, and has now proven his power and submission game exists. I don't know if that KO puts him in line for a shot vs. Evans yet, but I really like his style. And, better yet, I think it's legit talent and not just a gimmicky style.

-I don't know who Jon Jones is, but I became a fan last night. I don't think I've ever seen a spinning back elbow in the UFC. Heck, I don't think I've ever seen a German/Belly-to-back or double underhook throw either. This kid just oozes talent and is only 21 years old. He's big, strong, and fast. If he can tone that cardio a bit and learn not to go for broke in round 1, he's got a huge future in this sport.

-I liked Guida/Diaz. Guida definitely won rounds 1 and 2. My question...Guida's already at a disadvantage being that short. You'd think he'd do something with that hair...in my humblest of opinions, he was throwing wildly early because he couldn't see. Why let something like your hair possibly cause you to screw up in a fight? Dude's tenacious though.

-Finally...Karo vs. Kim was meh. I suppose Karo won, didn't really care though. I hated that they did nothing the last 2-3 minutes of the fight, and yet the ref didn't stop it and restart it in the middle. Why let the fight end like that? They were tangled up with each other against the cage, and no one was doing any damage. Oh well, unmemorable and easily my least favorite of the 5 main card fights.

[Guest]

I love Karo and always have.
His style just isn't the same anymore and thought that fight was a letdown.
I don't think he'll be able to get back to contender status.

[XUDawg]

Gotta love Machida. The Dragon got it done. Again. And that KO was vicious. You could tell the first strike after Silva was on the ground knocked him out. The ref obviously was more interested in the end of the round, because he didn't stop it. Then Machida hit him again. Lights were staying out.

You would be hard pressed to find a more interesting list of victories than Machida's. Different sizes, styles.

Bonnar. Franklin. Penn. Sokodjou. Tito. And now the Throat-slashing Fraud.

And he wins whatever way he has to. TKO, KO, submission, decision. The guy's excellence cannot be denied.

[Guest]

Machida is tough and I was wrong thinking he wasn't legit.
I'm still not 100% sold on him though and wouldn't call him excellent just yet.
Very good fighter but beat a top contender and I will be convinced.
He will get his shot this year to prove just how good he is.