Saturday, January 31, 2009

UFC 94: Two Sentence Predictions.


St. Pierre shows Matt Hughes the benefits of tight, tiny, "junk enhancing" shorts.



The trouble of having the fight of the year in January, is that there are still 11 months to get beat out. BJ Penn and George St Pierre face off tonight in what I feel should be the best fight in recent memory. Before we get there though, there are 4 other fights on the televised card, so without further ado...here come dem picks.

Clay Guida vs. Nate Diaz (LW):
How long before Guida goes for a take down and ends up in a guillotine? I say Round 2. Diaz submits Guida

Karo Parisyan vs. Don Hyung Kim (WW):
If Karo comes mentally ready to fight, he should be able to use his "gorilla strength" to peel the Korean banana. This one is going to the cards with Karo "The Heat" Parisyan the victor.

Stephen Bonnar vs. Jon Jones (LHW):
It's hard for me to pick Stephen "Gatekeeper" Bonnar, being he hasn't beaten anyone outside of a decision victory over Kieth Jardine. If Jones can be the first black guy in the UFC to actually show some ground defense I like his chances. Jones via KO in the 2nd.

Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva (LHW):
A bout between two Brazilian undefeated fighters. Machida is on another level and he'll show why he deserves the title shot tonight. Machida via decision

BJ Penn vs George St Pierre (WW):
I love BJ Penn, but he will need a perfect performance to win this. St. Pierre puts his name in with Anderson Silva and Fedor Emelianeko as the best pound for pound fighter on the earth with a victory tonight. St. Pierre wins via TKO Round 3.

A special thanks to Julio, for if not for him I would have to be at work during these occurrences of fisticuffs.


Sean "The Muscle Shark" Sherk loses a row of teeth after being floored by Penn.

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The Aftermath: (Spoiler Alert)

UFC 94 in a word was "anticlimactic". All but two fights went the distance towards a decision, but they were entertaining battles. The event did set a very good foundation for the rest of the year though. Guida levels up, BJ Penn gets to go back to lightweight and get that division moving again. Jon Jones and Lyoto Machida proved why 205 is the best weight division in all of MMA and GSP just might be the best fighter anyone has ever seen. Though only one of my predictions came true, I still got 4 out of the five winners correct. The following is a breakdown of the lowdown...so now its time to get down.

Guida defeats Diaz via decision: Except for a couple of kimura attempts, Guida controlled the fight. Just goes to show that wrestling has it's place in MMA and like it or lump it fighters should learn take down defense and escapes.

Parisyan defeats Kim via decision: Just like I called it, but this one could have gone either way. Much more interested in Kim's future than Parisyan's right now, even though Karo is coming off a very significant injury.

Jones defeats Bonnar via decision: (you noticing a trend?): I'm not sure if Jones was ever really in trouble. The spinning elbow was a nice strike, but totally illegal as it landed behind Bonnar's head. Only 21 years old is Jones and he looks like another Anderson Silva in the making (sans the bjj skills).

Machida defeats Silva via KO: (finally a finish): It finally happened, Lyoto got around to knocking someone out. Silva may have landed a few punches, but was otherwise rendered ineffective due to Machida's speed and technique. Can't believe I've got to wait for Rampage Jackson to fight Jardine before we see Lyoto challenge for the title. Machida vs. Evans would be a spring/summer blockbuster fight, but you know...politics and all.

St. Pierre "works" Penn to a referee stoppage: The guy doesn't stop evolving and he may hold the belt until 2011 or so. Also, why boo Thialgo Alves? That fight is gonna be butter.

Great card on paper, but the night overall held very few surprises or notable moments. Affliction thus far has the best card of the year.

1 comment:

John said...

I feel like Lyoto still needs to fight someone who's more legit. I'm pulling for that dude, though I love his style even if he does catch a lot of shit for it.

Jon Jones looked like he's going to be pretty fucking formidable. Still so young.