Can't wait for Saturday!

This coming Saturday is going to be an exciting and fun day for me. First, I have my friend and training partner, Jeff Howard, competing in the Grapplemania event in Henderson, NC (No-Gi division). He decided to do it on very short notice but I believe he is ready and will do very well. I’ll post how it went for him or have him do a guest host post describing the experience.

Then, Sat night is UFC 107. What a great card for this event. I can’t wait for the Diego Sanchez vs BJ Penn fight. It’s gonna be explosive! And even though I am somewhat of a Penn fan, I think I’m gonna be pulling for Sanchez in this one.

Mir Vs Congo should be good as well. Part of me would like to see Mir win (so he could someday avenge the loss to Lesnar) but I’m really tired of his attitude and crap talking so I’m pulling for Congo in this one (he has a great chance in the stand up game, not so much if it goes to the ground).

I always enjoy seeing Jon Fitch fight. Don’t know much about his opponent.
Kenny Florian vs Clay Guida should be another great one. Pulling for Florian in this one.

TUF Finale & Jeff H

So it’s Brendan Schaub vs Roy "Big Country" Nelson in the live finale for TUF on Sat. It should be good. I do want to make a prediction here. Jon Jones and Matt Hamel are fighting in the headliner fight, and not only do believe Jon Jones will win the fight, I believe he will be a force in the UFC. I expect to see great things from him so keep your eye on him.

Jeff H is not only one of my training partners but one of my best friends as well. He and I did our first NAGA event together and it was an incredible experience. I continue to be impressed with Jeff and his Jiu Jitsu development. His skills seem better every time we train. He is dedicated to continual growth and development, and is not given to the ego (meaning he’s willing to try new things, work on weaknesses, and doesn’t feel the need to try to “win” every sparring/rolling session). I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to “train and hang” with Jeffy.

Post-UFC 106 thoughts

FYI, my site username has changed from deemideem to MJ. You’ll see deemideem on the first few posts so hope it isn’t too confusing.

OK, so my UFC 106 predictions didn’t hold up too well. That’s just one of the great things about MMA- it can be so unpredictable. You never know what’s gonna happen. Great event overall (actually didn’t get to watch PPV-had to see on “black market style” by going to a website the following morning to view it).

Kudos to Forest for his win. He used his reach, footwork, and leg kicks very effectively in the fight. He was also able to weather the storm while on the ground (with out taking too much abuse, aside from maybe a handful of elbows) until able to get back to his feet. Tito looked ok until the third round when he looked like he nothing left. Although I respect Tito for his past accomplishments, I believe gone are the days when his superior wrestling and ground and pound were enough to smash and finish his opponents. The fighters today are just so much better at takedown defense, as well as protecting themselves in the guard and getting back to their feet than they were in previous UFC eras. I sure he still has some punishment to deliver so it will be interesting to see who the match him up with next.

I was expecting Anthony “Rumble” Jones to do better against Josh Koscheck. In what could be called the “battle of the eye gouges” he was submitted in the second round. Not to take anything away from Kos, cuz I’m sure it sucks having someone as good as he is at controlling on top of you. Jones has been very impressive in his fights leading up to this one, but I don’t think he’s gone against the level of fighter Koscheck is before this fight.

Amir Sadollah is the man. He was very impressive with his muay thai skills, and we already know he has mad BJJ. Great to see him back in the UFC (finally) and can’t wait until his next fight.

Marcus Jones met with some vicious knees that sent him down for the count. First time he’d been KO’d. Great fight by Ben Saunders!

Rodrigo Nogueira’s brother, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, was very impressive in his UFC debut. Look to see him do well in the UFC.

Kendall Grove did an impressive job catching Jake Rosholt in a triangle. Not a big fan of “Da Spida” but got to give him his props for his victory. I believe Rosholt has great base to build on. He obviously needs more work with submission defense though. I think he will continue to improve.

WEC's new champ & UFC 106 predictions

The WEC has a new champion in the 145 pound division. Brazilian, Jose Aldo beat Mike Brown in WEC 44 to take the title. Aldo is phenomenal and I predict he’ll be champ for a good while. Beating Mike Brown is no easy feat (the guy’s a beast in that weight class and was on a 10 fight winning streak) but Aldo is very well rounded (BJJ black belt), quick, explosive, and has awesome stand up/striking skills. Don’t know who will be the one to eventually beat him.

The WEC is always thrilling to watch. First of all, it’s free (which is always a plus) and because it consists of smaller weight classes only, the action is fast and non stop. The level of skill these guys show is amazing, and even though I’m not as familiar with many of the names as I am with the UFC fighters, I’m often more impressed with WEC events/fights than I am with many of the UFCs.


UFC 106


UFC 106 tonight: The headline fight was supposed to be Brock Lesnar vs Shane Carwin. That one I was looking forward to (would’ve been rooting for Carwin), but alas, because of Brock’s illness the fight was scratched. So, Tito vs Forest…..not all that excited about it but gonna predict Tito will take this one. He’s returning to the UFC and he’s probably hungrier for a good showing/win. Forest has not faired well in his past two fights and I question his level of motivation right now. Other predictions for UFC include:

· Anthony Johnson beats Josh Koscheck (both are very talented and haven’t seen that much of Johnson’s ground game, but his skill and athleticism will prevail.
· Jacob Volkmann beats Paulo Thiago? (just guessing here, both are good).

· Luiz "Banha" Cane beats Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (Rodrigo’s brother)
· Amir Sadollah beats Phil Baroni
· Marcus Davis beats Ben Saunders
· Jake Rosholt beats Kendall Grove
· Fabricio Camoes beats Caol Uno

PPV starts at 10 PM and free prelim fights start at 9 PM on Spike

TUF

Anyone else less than thrilled with this season of The Ultimate Fighter? The heavyweights just aren’t showing me a whole lot. Most fights seem to consist of pretty slow action and getting winded very early. There have been a few minor exciting moments here and there, but for the most part not too terribly exciting overall. Who will win this season? Who knows, my bet is on Marcus “The Darkness” Jones.

My first experience with “sportive combatives” was with my brother David, and my cousins Mike and Mark. When we were kids, we would take four water skis, and line them up to form a square “ring.” We didn’t have any equipment (we later got boxing gloves), so we took a sock and rolled it up inside of another sock. We did this for each hand and we were ready for action. After a few minutes of action, invariably, one of us (usually Mike or Mark) would get ticked off, usually from taking a good shot to the face. Then, off would come the “sock-gloves” and the sportive match would become an all-out, full on, bare-knuckled brawl!
Luckily, no one ever got badly hurt form these “sessions” (at least as far as I remember) and we could usually be found a few hours later hanging out together and loving each other again.

Fedor vs Rogers fight

The recent Strikeforce fight between Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers was a great one. Rogers, who's a giant with knock out power, was very impressive. Even though he lost the fight, I have a feeling he's gonna be around for a while. Anyone who can hang as well as he did with Fedor (even if only through one good round and a bit of a second) has my respect. He has a lot of potential and if he continues to improve (in a world class camp) he has a bright future in MMA.
Fedor is always a thrill to watch. He is truly amazing. He proved once again that he can weather the storm and then put a beating on whomever he's fighting. He is so well rounded and I can't wait to see him fight again (we used to be able to see him in PRIDE before it was bought by the UFC). I, like many others, would love to see the match between Fedor and Brock Lesnar take place but don't foresee that happening anytime soon (due to UFC's refusal to budge on contract negotiations, as well as Brock's current illness).