The World the Way it Used to Be

I have been VERY lax in keeping up with this blog. That's because I have been VERY busy. Hopefully I will get back to making predictions for upcoming events.

A Long, Long Time Ago...
Once upon a time, Randy Couture was the crafty veteran who would outsmart the new bully in town, Brock Lesnar. And... we all know how it turned out. 2nd round TKO victory for Lesnar, and the end of Couture's reign as UFC Heavyweight Champion.

Randy Couture is still a top-10 heavyweight. Nobody disputes this, at least as far as I know. He got caught, and the rest is history. It was a great fight up till that moment, though. Randy was doing really well. Lesnar simply did better.

And what about that Brock Lesnar? "Wrastling" phenom turned mixed martial artist. Legit mixed martial artist no less. Here is sits atop the world's foremost MMA promotion, just four fights into his professional career. We would need to rewind the clock to the inception of the UFC to find another fighter who has accomplished the same in such a short time. But such is the life of one of the world's most gifted atheletes.

I'll be very interested to see how the heavyweight division plays out over the next year. We still need to see Frank Mir and Big Nog face off. Will Mir surprise us all? Or will Big Nog put another explamation point at the end of his reputation? It will be a very interesting fight.

EliteXC/CBS 3 Predictions

Predictions for Saturday's EliteXC/CBS event.

[As usual, I'll come back and mark my good guesses in blue, and my bad guesses in red.]

Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock - Slice by stoppage, R1
(Actual result: Seth Petruzelli def Kimbo by TKO, R1)
Jake Shields vs. Paul Daley - Shields by stoppage, R3
(Actual result: Shields def Daley by submission, R2)
Andrei Arlovski vs. Roy Nelson - Nelson by stoppage, R2
(Actual result: Arlovski def Nelson by TKO, R2)
Gina Carano vs. Kelly Kobald - Carano by decision
(Actual result: Carano def Kobald by decision)
Marilo Rua vs. Benji Radach - Rua by decision
(Actual result: Radach def Rua by TKO, R2)
"Cyborg" vs. Yoko Takahashi - Justino by stoppage R3
(Actual result: Cyborg def Takahashi by decision)
James Edson Berto vs. Mike Aina - Berto by decision
(Actual result: Conor Heun def. Edson Berto via TKO R2)
Robert McDaniel vs. Alexander Shlemenko - Shlemenko by stoppage, R1
(Neither fought on this card)
Seth Petruzelli vs. Aaron Rosa - Rosa by decision
(NOTE: Petruzelli replaced Sharock as an alternate in the main event)
"The Borg" vs. Mickey Gomez - Borgomeo by stoppage, R2
(Actual result: Mickey Gomez def Borgomeo by submission, R2)
David Gomez vs. Nicholas Cardella - Gomez by decision
(Actual result: Bryan Hamade def Gomez by submission, R1)
David Martinez vs. Nicolae Sinicio - Martinez by stoppage, R2
(Actual result: Nicolae Cury def Jorge Bouchat by submission, R1)

Post-event Update
Predictions were based on the lineup published on EliteXC's official site. Unfortunately, most of the fights were not paired accordingly. However, the night's big upset occurred during the main event when Seth Petruzelli stepped in as an alternate to Ken Shamrock and dismantled Kimbo Slice in under 15 seconds. (Petruzelli's original opponent, Aaron Rosa, did not fight on the card.)

"Sugar" Puts "The Iceman" to Sleep

Wow. Who saw that one coming? Tonight, in the main event of UFC 88, "Sugar" Rashad Evan became the first man to put Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell to sleep.

Just shy of two minutes into the second round, Rashad Evans landed a perfect overhand right, placing it squarely and powerfully on the chin of Chuck Liddell. Chuck's head jerked violently to his right, which caused him to go limp and collapse to the canvas. Out cold.

Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan were discussing the uppercut that Chuck almost simultaneously landed as Evans' overhand right found its mark. However, viewing the replay, Chuck's uppercut would not have connected because Evans' head was out of the way. It may have hit Evans' collar bone, or even his throat -- which certainly would not have been pleasant -- but Evans would not have been rocked by it.

Evans displayed outstanding, if not somewhat odd, body movement as he locked horns with "The Iceman". I was surprised to see Evans repeatedly enter into Chuck's strike zone. Evans landed jabs, kicks, and displayed superior striking speed. He also took a page out of Machida's playbook by eluding most of Chuck's strikes. Chuck managed to get off a couple solid strikes, but that was it. Evans not only seemed confident in his striking at the beginning of the fight, but his confidence seemed to increase as the fight wore on.

I will watch with great interest as the UFC tries to figure out how to organize the light heavyweight division now that their #1 rock star has fallen for the third time in his past four fights.

I was very impressed with Evans' performance. He displayed his true potential tonight: lightening quickness, powerful striking, and the ability to step out of danger. Congrats to Evans as he will very likely get the "Knockout of the Night" bonus, which would be well-deserved.

UFC 88 Predictions

Here are my predictions. Last time, I got eight right out of 10. I don't expect to do as well this time, since I'm making some out-of-the-box predictions, especially for fights scheduled for the untelevised portion of the undercard.

[As always, I will come back after the event and mark my good guesses with blue and my bad guesses with red.]

Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans - Liddell by stoppage, R3
(Actual result, Evans by KO R2)
Rich Franklin vs. Matt Hamill - Franklin by decision
(Actual result, Franklin by TKO R3)
Karo Parisyan vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida - Parisyan by stoppage, R2
Dan Henderson vs. Rousimar Palhares - Henderson by decision
(Actual result, Henderson by decision)
Martin Kampmann vs. Nate Marquardt - Kampmann by stoppage, R3
(Actual result, Marquardt by TKO R1)
Thiago Tavares vs. Kurt Pellegrino - Tavares by decision
(Actual result, Pelligrino by decision)
Tim Boetsch vs. Michael Patt - Boetsch by decision
(Actual result, Boetsch by TKO R1)
Dong Hyun Kim vs. Matt Brown - Kim by stoppage, R3
(Actual result, Kim by split decision)
Jason Lambert vs. Jason MacDonald - MacDonald by stoppage, R2
(Actual result, MacDonald by submission R2)
Roan Carneiro vs. Ryo Chonan - Chonan by stoppage, R3
(Actual result, Chonan by split decision)

Couture is Willing to Face Fedor in the UFC

That's right. Randy Couture recently stated that he is willing to face Fedor Emelianenko under the UFC banner. He wouldn't be simply willing:

"I'd love for the UFC to step up and make the fight happen. It has the potential to be the biggest mixed martial arts fight to date..."

This tidbit came by way of MMAMania.com by way of The Adam Carolla Show.

As significant as his comment seems to be, Couture's little wish has gotten buried under the weight of his other comment (that he and Fedor could/should get paid between $6-$10 million each).

Has everyone missed the significance of Randy mentioning the UFC as a vehicle for the Fedor fight?!

UFC 87 Predictions

Yes, I'm making my predictions very late. But better late than never. I am a software engineer by day -- and lately by night too. I have had very little time to devote to MMA, other than watching events, and commenting on MMAJunkie.com and MMAMania.com.

My last event prediction was a stinker. But not my worst! (I'm shooting for 0% as a badge of honor.) Seriously, it doesn't matter. I have spent very many hours researching fighters' records for an event only to achieve very low accuracy for the event (UFC 80). I have spent zero time researching, and achieved very high accuracy (UFC 78). There is no science to this, only intelligent guessing. So, let the chips fall where they may. "Let's get it on!"

[As always, I will come back and mark the good guesses in blue, and the bad guesses in red.]

Georges St-Pierre vs. Jon Fitch - GSP by stoppage, R4
(Actual result: GSP by decision)
Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring - Lesnar by stoppage, R3
(Actual result: Lesnar by decision)
Kenny Florian vs. Roger Huerta - Huerta by stoppage, R3
(Actual result: Florian by decision)
Manny Gamburyan vs. Rob Emerson - Emerson by decision
(Actual result: Emerson by TKO R1)
Jason MacDonald vs. Demian Maia - McDonald by stoppage, R3
(Actual result: Maia by submission R3)
Luke Cummo vs. Tamdan McCrory - McCrory by stoppage, R2
(Actual result: McCrory by decision)
Cheick Kongo vs. Dan Evensen - Kongo by stoppage, R2
(Actual result: Kongo by TKO R1)
Andre Gusmao vs. Jon Jones - Jones by decision
(Actual result: Jones by decision)
Chris Wilson vs. Steve Bruno - Wilson by decision
(Actual result: Wilson by decision)
Ben Saunders vs. Ryan Thomas - Saunders by decision
(Actual result: Saunders by arm-bar R2)

Trivia: The 10-10 Round

Did you know that it is possible for a round to be judged 10-10? This was an interesting point of debate brought up in thread on MMAMania.com.

10-10 rounds are very rare, and few fans can point to an example. But they are possible. There is a section in the Unified Rules that deals specifically with 10-10 rounds.

Here is the verbiage from the
New Jersey State Athletic Control Board - MMA Unified Rules:

13:46-24A.13 Judging

(a) All bouts will be evaluated and scored by three judges.

(b) The 10-Point Must System will be the standard system of scoring a bout. Under the 10-Point Must Scoring System, 10 points must be awarded to the winner of the round and nine points or less must be awarded to the loser, except for a rare even round, which is scored (10-10).

And also further down in the same section on Judging:

(j) The following objective scoring criteria shall be utilized by the judges when scoring a round;

1. A round is to be scored as a 10-10 Round when both contestants appear to be fighting evenly and neither contestant shows clear dominance in a round;

2. A round is to be scored as a 10-9 Round when a contestant wins by a close margin, landing the greater number of effective legal strikes, grappling and other maneuvers;

3. A round is to be scored as a 10-8 Round when a contestant overwhelmingly dominates by striking or grappling in a round.

4. A round is to be scored as a 10-7 Round when a contestant totally dominates by striking or grappling in a round.