polyh3dron
Banned
-Preliminary fights streaming live from the UFC's Facebook page at approximately 3:30pm PT/6:30pm ET
-More prelims then air live on Spike at 5pm PT/8pm ET
-Live PPV begins at 6pm PT/9pm ET
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Just to reiterate, this event starts an hour earlier than the UFC normally has in the past. This change happened starting with UFC 129 and is permanent, it will be like this for every UFC going forward.
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Welp, for a clusterfuck of a card that has had people drop out left right and center and even lost its original main event entirely, this looks like it will be pretty entertaining. Light Heavyweight contender Quinton "Rampage" Jackson was initially scheduled to fight Thiago Silva in the co-main event. Silva pulled out of the fight initially due to an undisclosed injury. It was later revealed that Silva used fake urine in his post-fight drug test at UFC 125 after destroying Brandon Vera because he had used steroids to heal from a back injury that would have forced him to pull out of the fight otherwise, according to a statement he made. Matt Hamill was the best UFC Light Heavyweight at the time who didn't have a fight lined up other than Rashad Evans (and a rematch was an unpopular idea), so he replaced Silva as Jackson's opponent
In the main event, Gray Maynard was supposed to get his rematch against Lightweight champ Frankie Edgar after fighting to a draw on New Year's Day in an instant candidate for fight of the year even considering it happened on the first day of said year. Maynard injured his knee in training but was still willing to go through with the fight. Edgar then suffered a broken rib and pulled out however and the main event was cancelled. Rampage vs. Hamill was then moved up to the main event and here we are.
This card was so stacked initially that Thiago Alves was fighting in the prelims (his fight got moved to the main card). Considering everything that has gone down, it's still a damn good card though. Kid Yamamoto was also scheduled to fight Chris Cariaso but had to pull out due to injury as well. Without further ado, this is the card as it stands now:
Live on Pay Per View:
Light Heavyweight (205 lbs): Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Matt "The Hammer" Hamill
Yeah yeah I know, pretty meh for a Memorial Day Weekend main event. Hamill is slow as shit and Rampage eats slow fighters for fucking breakfast, not to mention it appears that some kind of fire was lit under his ass. He is now one of only two people to beat Lyoto Machida (he won the first two rounds so that means 29-28, deal with it). Rampage by brutal KO.
Heavyweight (265 lbs max): Frank Mir vs. Roy "Big Country" Nelson
This is an interesting matchup. These two guys competed against each other in a grappling match back in 06 (video here) when Roy was half the man he is now (get it hur hur) and Roy won. Nelson KO'd two respected heavyweights in Brendan Schaub and Stefan Struve prior to fighting top contender Junior Dos Santos and taking him the distance (and losing). Roy has a very diverse skillset; he's a Renzo Gracie BJJ black belt, has a good top control game, incredible KO power, a granite chin and can go in the deep waters. Frank Mir is coming off of an embarrassing 3rd round KO of Mirko Cro Cop back at UFC 119. Yes, you read that right: he got the KO but it was still a shitty fight. Many critics deemed it the worst UFC pay per view since UFC 33; the stinker of all stinkers. Mir is looking to get back "in the mix" and a loss here would really set him back big time, more than a loss would set Nelson back IMO. Unfortunately, I don't see any ways for Mir to win this fight other than by a decision. Roy isn't getting caught in a sub, isn't getting KO'd (JDS couldn't pull it off for fuck's sake) and isn't getting wrestlefucked. I'll take Nelson by TKO.
Heavyweight: Stefan "The Skyscraper" Struve vs. Travis Browne
Travis Browne is coming off a fight that was boring as shit too. Cheick Kongo grabbed his shorts the whole time while Browne tried to wall-n-stall Kongo and it went to a draw only because the referee deducted a point from Kongo for the aformentioned pulling of the shorts. Stefan Struve is coming off of humiliating an Internet troll. To be fair to Struve though, he did look good against Christian Morecraft prior to that, getting KO of the night. I honestly think Browne is going to be in over his head in this fight however. Browne's two UFC opponents to date have been Kongo and James McSweeney who is a joke. Struve has fought much tougher opponents than his and I expect him to put together a stunning victory.
Welterweight (170 lbs): Thiago "Pitbull" Alves vs. Rick "The Horror" Story
This matchup has the makings of an epic war. Rick Story has been more or less flying under the radar and beating tough guys. This will be a step up in competition for him, but not as much of a step up as people may think. Story's last fight was a win over a previously undefeated Johnny Hendricks, and Alves's last one was an impressive victory over John "Doomsday" Howard. Story is a tough guy with a wrestling background who can take a lot of punishment in order to give some and Alves is one of the best strikers in the welterweight division with good takedown defense. This is my FOTN candidate and I'll take Alves by decision.
Middleweight (185 lbs): Brian Stann vs. Jorge "The Belt Collector" Santiago
Speaking of FOTN candidates, this is a very close second. If you haven't seen it already, you owe it to yourself to watch Jorge Santiago's epic battle with Kazuo Misaki from last year; one of the best fights of 2010 (Part 1 Link) (Part 2 Link). Sengoku Middleweight Champion Jorge Santiago has been bouncing between other promotions since being cut from the UFC in 2006 for consecutive losses to Chris Leben and Alan Belcher. He has racked up an impressive 11-1 record since, with the only loss in that period being avenged right after against Mamed Khalidov. In that period he has beaten Jeremy Horn, Trevor Prangley, Sitar Bahadurzada, split 2 fights with Mamed Khalidov as mentioned earlier, and beaten Kazuo Misaki twice. Brian Stann has been very impressive since dropping down to middleweight after getting destroyed by Phil Davis. He has a submission win over Mike Massenzio and a TKO win over Chris Leben. Both guys have well rounded skill sets so I'm looking forward to an evenly matched fight with a bit of everything MMA has to offer.
Prelims on Spike:
Bantamweight (135 lbs): Miguel Angel Torres vs. Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson
Miguel Torres has been going through a reinvention of sorts after devastating consecutive losses to Brian Bowles(KO) and Joseph Benavidez (Submission). Prior to those losses he was regarded as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world and was also a fan favorite for his reckless, brawling style. Realizing that the rest of the bantamweight division was evolving, Torres decided to set up shop in Firas Zahabi's MMA training camp, a camp also frequented by Georges St. Pierre, Kenny Florian, Nate Marquardt, Jon Jones and David Loiseau among others. Torres made his UFC debut at UFC 126 fighting Antonio Banuelos and was content to stay on the outside and jab his way to a decision (sound like anyone I just mentioned?) but Banuelos was also really gunshy which definitely didn't contribute to the entrtainment value of the fight. The old fan-friendly brawler was gone, and in his place was a fighter who played it safe and didn't want to overcommit. When UFC matchmaker Joe Silva was lining up Torres' next opponent he was most likely putting the tips of his fingers together while saying "eeeexcellent" in his Montgomery Burns voice because Demetrious Johnson will definitely not allow Torres to stay on the outside and jab his way to a decision win. Mighty Mouse moves around a whole lot and has great takedowns. It'll be interesting to see what changes Miguel makes to his game in order to come out with a victory on Saturday. This is definitely one of the more intriguing matchups on the card.
Middleweight bout: Kendall "Da Spyda" (Not to be confused with "The Spider"-- totally different) Grove vs. Tim Boetsch
Meh.
Prelims on Facebook:
Lightweight (155 lbs): Gleison Tibau vs. Rafaello Oliveira
Bantamweight: Michael McDonald vs. Chris Cariaso
Bantamweight: Renan Barão vs. Cole Escovedo
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FUN FACT: Starting this weekend, there will be 6 consecutive weekends with a Zuffa MMA event happening on them.
Zuffa MMA schedule for the next 6 weeks:
5.28 - UFC 130: Rampage vs. Hamill
6.4 - The Ultimate Finale: Pettis vs. Guida
6.11 - UFC 131: Carwin vs. Dos Santos
6.18 - Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix: Overeem vs. Werdum / Barnett vs Rogers
6.24 - Strikeforce Challengers: Fodor vs. Terry (Ryan Couture and Lorenz Larkin also on the card)
6.26 - UFC on Versus 4: Marquardt vs. Johnson
7.2 - UFC 132: Faber vs. Cruz
