Post by James Hetfield on Dec 22, 2010 17:09:10 GMT -5
With the event only being about a week and a half away, I figure why not start the thread now? BIG card coming up New Year's day with the Lightweight title on the line as my buddy, Frankie Edgar defends his title in a rematch against undefeated Gray Maynard.
This is a
ing STACKED card. I genually want to see EVERY FIGHT, EVEN THE PRELIMS ARE STACKED! It looks to be an exciting card. Hopefully UFC can start 2011 off huge with this event.
UFC 125 "RESOLUTION", 1/1/2011 (PPV/ION TV/ESPN-UK)
MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas NV
1. Lightweight bout: Jacob Volkmann vs. Antonio McKee
2. Welterweight bout: Daniel Roberts vs. Greg Soto
3. Featherweight bout: Mike Brown vs. Diego Nunes
4. Middleweight bout: Phil Baroni vs. Brad Tavares
5. Featherweight bout: Josh Grispi vs. Dustin Poirier
6. Lightweight bout: Marcus Davis vs. Jeremy Stephens
7. Lightweight bout: Clay Guida vs. Takanori Gomi
8. Welterweight bout: Nate Diaz vs. Dong Hyun Kim
9. Light Heavyweight bout: Brandon Vera vs. Thiago Silva
10. Middleweight bout: Chris Leben vs. Brian Stann
11. Lightweight Championship: Frankie Edgar (c) vs. Gray Maynard
*Fights 4, 5 & 6 will air LIVE on ION TV.
- Nice to see Antonio McKee make his UFC debut this soon after his last fight in MFC. I figured he would have waited until February or March. He is always criticized for not finishing fights, but he fights smart. Now that he's in the UFC, I hope he realizes what an opportunity he has and I hope he makes the best of it and finishes guys.
- Mike Brown making his return to the UFC, and it's not an easy fight. Nunes is a very tough guy who is very hard to finish, and has only been defeated once in his career. Brown just needs to sharpen all of his skills so he can make his name and try to go for a title shot again. I expect Brown to win this by decision.
- Shame to see Grispi on the prelims against some younger guy after Aldo had to pull out. Grispi needs to make a statement to everyone and finish this fight early, because he is the LAST interesting fight left for Aldo at that weight. Maybe after Grispi wins, they can re-schedule the Aldo fight for March. It'll suck if he loses.
- Marcus Davis dropping to Lightweight was a pretty smart idea for him at this stage of his career. He's winding down, he's pushing 40 and I think he has still a couple good fights left in him. Too bad for him that it's such a hard fight against Jeremy Stephens. Stephens is a very tough guy with good standup skills of his own. Davis' hands are good, but he needs to start using his kicks more if he wants more of an advantage here. I still expect this to be exciting, with Davis winning.
- Time for Gomi to knock out another wrestleboxer. Guida better NOT stay on his feet in close-range with Gomi, or else he's going to be seeing stars. GOMI BY KO!
- I am officially torn between Diaz and Kim. Both of these guys are top-notch grapplers but are also very different on the feet. They both have a similar reach, but Diaz likes to throw punches from all angles and has great cardio. I give Kim a SLIGHT advantage on the ground if he gets top control, but I am sure Diaz has been working off his back to try to escape that and keep it on the feet as much as possible. I am sort of biased, but I have to go with Diaz by split decision. This will probably win fight of the night.
- Very pleased to see Silva/Vera moved to the main card. This is a very, very interesting fight. Vera hasn't really touched that top-notch status, but Silva has been a destroyer for most of his fights. I understand he was injured in the Evans fight, but he ALMOST finished him in round 3. Vera has no wins over top-10 guys yet, and I wouldn't QUITE consider Silva in the top 10 (maybe top 12), but it will still be a huge win for Vera after losing 2 straight to Couture and Jones. All in all, I do expect Silva to be better than he has been before. I think he'll finish Vera in round 2.
- Leben vs. Stann confuses me. Leben SUBMITS near top-10 contender in Yoshihiro Akiyama in an EXCITING fight, and now gets former WEC light heavyweight champion Brian Stann. Very odd. Brian is too much of a one-dimensional fighter for me to choose him, so I expect Leben to make some noise here by finishing Stann quick in round 1.
- Not much can be said that I haven't already said about Edgar. The dude is a beast in the gym and a great example for new, younger fighters. He's been working REALLY hard on his jiu-jitsu with Rolles and Renzo Gracie to try and work against Maynard's wrestling, and his standup is getting better and better every time. Maynard IS a very well-rounded opponent for Frankie, and he has already beaten him, so I think that puts more pressure on Maynard to do a repeat of that. Watching Frankie train like an animal is all I need to see to choose Frankie by triangle choke in round 3.
This is a
ing STACKED card. I genually want to see EVERY FIGHT, EVEN THE PRELIMS ARE STACKED! It looks to be an exciting card. Hopefully UFC can start 2011 off huge with this event.UFC 125 "RESOLUTION", 1/1/2011 (PPV/ION TV/ESPN-UK)
MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas NV
1. Lightweight bout: Jacob Volkmann vs. Antonio McKee
2. Welterweight bout: Daniel Roberts vs. Greg Soto
3. Featherweight bout: Mike Brown vs. Diego Nunes
4. Middleweight bout: Phil Baroni vs. Brad Tavares
5. Featherweight bout: Josh Grispi vs. Dustin Poirier
6. Lightweight bout: Marcus Davis vs. Jeremy Stephens
7. Lightweight bout: Clay Guida vs. Takanori Gomi
8. Welterweight bout: Nate Diaz vs. Dong Hyun Kim
9. Light Heavyweight bout: Brandon Vera vs. Thiago Silva
10. Middleweight bout: Chris Leben vs. Brian Stann
11. Lightweight Championship: Frankie Edgar (c) vs. Gray Maynard
*Fights 4, 5 & 6 will air LIVE on ION TV.
- Nice to see Antonio McKee make his UFC debut this soon after his last fight in MFC. I figured he would have waited until February or March. He is always criticized for not finishing fights, but he fights smart. Now that he's in the UFC, I hope he realizes what an opportunity he has and I hope he makes the best of it and finishes guys.
- Mike Brown making his return to the UFC, and it's not an easy fight. Nunes is a very tough guy who is very hard to finish, and has only been defeated once in his career. Brown just needs to sharpen all of his skills so he can make his name and try to go for a title shot again. I expect Brown to win this by decision.
- Shame to see Grispi on the prelims against some younger guy after Aldo had to pull out. Grispi needs to make a statement to everyone and finish this fight early, because he is the LAST interesting fight left for Aldo at that weight. Maybe after Grispi wins, they can re-schedule the Aldo fight for March. It'll suck if he loses.
- Marcus Davis dropping to Lightweight was a pretty smart idea for him at this stage of his career. He's winding down, he's pushing 40 and I think he has still a couple good fights left in him. Too bad for him that it's such a hard fight against Jeremy Stephens. Stephens is a very tough guy with good standup skills of his own. Davis' hands are good, but he needs to start using his kicks more if he wants more of an advantage here. I still expect this to be exciting, with Davis winning.
- Time for Gomi to knock out another wrestleboxer. Guida better NOT stay on his feet in close-range with Gomi, or else he's going to be seeing stars. GOMI BY KO!
- I am officially torn between Diaz and Kim. Both of these guys are top-notch grapplers but are also very different on the feet. They both have a similar reach, but Diaz likes to throw punches from all angles and has great cardio. I give Kim a SLIGHT advantage on the ground if he gets top control, but I am sure Diaz has been working off his back to try to escape that and keep it on the feet as much as possible. I am sort of biased, but I have to go with Diaz by split decision. This will probably win fight of the night.
- Very pleased to see Silva/Vera moved to the main card. This is a very, very interesting fight. Vera hasn't really touched that top-notch status, but Silva has been a destroyer for most of his fights. I understand he was injured in the Evans fight, but he ALMOST finished him in round 3. Vera has no wins over top-10 guys yet, and I wouldn't QUITE consider Silva in the top 10 (maybe top 12), but it will still be a huge win for Vera after losing 2 straight to Couture and Jones. All in all, I do expect Silva to be better than he has been before. I think he'll finish Vera in round 2.
- Leben vs. Stann confuses me. Leben SUBMITS near top-10 contender in Yoshihiro Akiyama in an EXCITING fight, and now gets former WEC light heavyweight champion Brian Stann. Very odd. Brian is too much of a one-dimensional fighter for me to choose him, so I expect Leben to make some noise here by finishing Stann quick in round 1.
- Not much can be said that I haven't already said about Edgar. The dude is a beast in the gym and a great example for new, younger fighters. He's been working REALLY hard on his jiu-jitsu with Rolles and Renzo Gracie to try and work against Maynard's wrestling, and his standup is getting better and better every time. Maynard IS a very well-rounded opponent for Frankie, and he has already beaten him, so I think that puts more pressure on Maynard to do a repeat of that. Watching Frankie train like an animal is all I need to see to choose Frankie by triangle choke in round 3.
