UFC Rio (134) Results

Hm. Think I took a bath on this one... Let's see.

Anderson Silva def. Yushin Okami (KO 2)
Honestly. What are these guys thinking? I'm big, I'm a wrestler, I think I'll stand and bang with Anderson Silva. Are you f***ing retarded? Think. We know wrestling works against Silva - why do people insist on standing back and waiting to be knocked out? Ridiculous. Waste of a fight. (1-0)

Mauricio Rua def. Forrest Griffin (KO 1)
Again, what was this guy thinking? Griffin should have taken down Rua fast and worn him out, but instead stands with another heavy hitter and gets put on his ass. Way to go. Anyone else think Forrest might retire soon? Although I'm not sure what else he'd do... (1-1)

Minotauro Nogueira def. Brendan Schaub (KO 1)
Schaub had Nogueira hurt but couldn't finish before getting caught. Schaub doesn't make the leap into the top echelon of the division, but still looked like he could hang with Nogueira. (1-2)

Edson Barboza def. Ross Pearson (split)
Finally an upset that paid off. Pearson pressed the action, but Barboza had the more effective strikes, I thought. I gave it to him on a thin decision. (2-2)

Stanislav Nedkov def. Luiz Cane (TKO 1)
Cane looked good early and had Nedkov on the ropes but did not finish and got caught. (2-3)

Thiago Tavares def. Spencer Fisher (TKO 2)
Fisher is in trouble, dropping too many of these fights. The stoppage may have been premature, what with Fisher taking no damage (though he was turtled), but he wasn't exactly lighting up Tavares. (2-4)

Rousimar Palhares def. Dan Miller (unanimous)
Palhares looked as good as you can without finishing a fight. He didn't seem to go for too many submissions but he beat the crap out of Miller for most of the fight and got either two 10-8s or an unheard-of 10-7 from one judge. (3-4)

Paulo Thiago def. David Mitchell (unanimous)
Didn't see it, but it sounds like Thiago dominated. (4-4)

Raphael Assuncao def. Johnny Eduardo (unanimous)
Assuncao didn't impress much, it seems, but got the nod in the end. The fight might have been closer than the scorecards suggested. These failed upsets are killing me! (4-5)

Yuri Alcantara def. Felipe Arantes (unanimous)
Whatever. (5-5)

Yves Jabouin def. Ian Loveland (split)
This fight was close, it seems, with Loveland providing wrestling while Jabouin looked for highlight finishes. Strangely, Jabouin gets the decision despite one judge giving all three rounds to Loveland. (6-5)

Somehow I missed the Erick Silva vs Luis Ramos fight in my picks. This had a wicked KO with Silva getting the win.

So, 6-5 is not terrible and better than I thought I was going to do, considering many of my upsets didn't pan out. I'm not gonna celebrate, though. :P

UFC Rio picks

So apparently this event is so cool that they aren't giving it a number? Whatever. (It's UFC 134) Let's get to the picks.

Anderson Silva vs Yushin Okami (middleweight)
It's nearly impossible to go against Silva these days, especially because few fighters in the division have the tools to beat him. Sonnen is at least one fight away, so Silva gets another sacrifice. Does Okami have a chance? Sure, if he presses the action. But I bet he gets KTFO before he gets close. I'm picking Silva.

Forrest Griffin vs Mauricio Rua (light heavyweight)
I hate betting against Griffin, but I don't like his chances in this one. Rua is coming off big fights while Griffin has been MIA promoting books and such. Still, I'll pick Forrest just so that I don't root against him.

Brendan Schaub vs Minotauro Nogueira (heavyweight)
Schaub has KO power and that's his key to victory. He won't outwrestle Nogueira and he certainly can't BJJ the guy. Can Nog get Schaub down? Maybe. But I think Nogueira is way past his prime these days and Schaub will connect. I'm picking Schaub in the upset.

Ross Pearson vs Edson Barboza (lightweight)
I like Pearson, but he isn't god's gift to MMA. Barboza is relatively unknown but TKO's guys with kicks! That's crazy. This ought to be a slugfest and I'm picking Barboza.

Luiz Cane vs Stanislav Nedkov (heavyweight)
Stanislov who? The guy hasn't fought in over a year and was rarely fighting before that. Great record, but you'd think he'd need more seasoning... Anyhow, he's a BJJ black belt and knocks guys out fast. But with the ring rust... Cane is dangerous but has underperformed in the past. He, too, is a BJJ black belt with KO power. Not sure where to go here. I'll pick experience and go with Cane.

Thiago Tavares vs Spencer Fisher (lightweight)
Could be fight of the night. Both of these guys were impressive a few years ago, but have fallen on hard times since. I expect this to go to decision with Fisher getting the nod.

Rousimar Palhares vs Dan Miller (middleweight)
Both of these guys have black belts in BJJ but Palhares is on a different level. His kneebars and ankle locks are sick. Can Miller avoid them? We'll see. I'll pick Palhares.

Paulo Thiago vs David Mitchell (welterweight)
Thiago was a rising star not so long ago, but has lost two in a row - usually signifying a must win match. Mitchell is a submissions guy who won a decision in his UFC debut. I think he's being thrown to the wolves here, though - I'll pick Thiago.

Raphael Assuncao vs Johnny Eduardo (featherweight)
Assuncao is a bit of a name, though he has lost a few recently. Eduardo is a nobody but has a string of victories and is used to fighting in Brazil. Neither of these guys blows me away. I'll go with the upset again and pick Eduardo.

Yuri Alcantara vs Felipe Arantes (featherweight)
This is getting ridiculous. The UFC featherweight division is so thin that neither of these guys has a profile on the website. Alcantara has a sick record and finishes guys fast. Arantes doesn't even appear on Wikipedia. Fuck that guy, I'm picking Alcantara.

Yves Jabouin vs Ian Loveland (bantamweight)
Loveland has been doing well recently and has some power, but gets submitted easily. Good thing for him, Jabouin is a striker, too. Jabouin really needs a win. Since I hate going against Canadians, even transplanted ones, I'll pick Jabouin.

UFC 128 Results

So it seems I missed another decent event. (Thank goodness for the free event this weekend) Let's see how I did with my picks for UFC 128.

Jon Jones def. Mauricio Rua (TKO 3)
I haven't seen the full fight, just the third and last round, but man, Jones dominated Rua pretty badly. I have long said I didn't think Rua would be champ for long, based on his performances against Griffin and Coleman, but I didn't think he'd get beat this badly. Rarely do we see champions get this outclassed. Things look good for Jones and he certainly has a ton of potential, but he's pretty green and I could see him losing to veteran with a good game plan. After all, we haven't seen how Jones does on HIS back. Randy Couture, anyone? But, really, the ultimate match-up for most would be Jones vs Anderson Silva; two lanky guys with power. If Silva faces and defeats GSP, would this be the next superfight? (1-0)

Urijah Faber def. Eddie Wineland (unanimous)
Looks like Faber is back in the title hunt. (2-0)

Jim Miller def. Kamal Shalorus (TKO 3)
Miller looks good again. (3-0)

Nate Marquardt def. Dan Miller (unanimous)
Marquardt is back on track. (4-0)

Brendan Schaub def. Mirko Filipovic (TKO 3)
Time for Cro Cop to retire, unless a new weight class is created. (5-0)

Luiz Cane def. Eliot Marshall (TKO 1)
Cane made Marshall look useless. (6-0)

Edson Barboza vs Anthony Njokuani (unanimous)
How in the world did Barboza get this decision? I picked him, and he looked great in the first round, but Njokuani woke up in the second and third while Barboza coasted. Barboza landed a highlight-reel spinning head kick at the last moment and had a takedown, but did not capitalize on either and Njokuani was active throughout both rounds. I thought Barboza had given it away for sure. But he celebrated like he had won, while Njokuani was stunned by the kick. Looks like the judges bought what Barboza was selling. Terrible decision. (6-0)

Mike Pyle def. Ricardo Almeida (unanimous)
Looks like I picked the wrong guy to win by decision. (6-1)

Gleison Tibau def. Kurt Pellegrino (split)
Tibau got the split, eh? Wish I'd seen it. (7-1)

Joseph Benavidez def. Ian Loveland (unanimous)
Didn't see it. (8-1)

Erik Koch def. Raphael Assuncao (KO 1)
Koch dropped a BOMB on Assuncao. Highlight KO. (9-1)

Nick Catone def. Constantinos Philippou (unanimous)
This one was a guess. Guessed wrong. (9-2)

9-2! Wow. That's pretty darn sweet if I do say so myself.