UFC 87: Georges St-Pierre Vs. Jon Fitch / Lesnar Vs. Herring / Huerta Vs. Florian

so i have given the fight night picks some consideration..:)

UFC Fight Night 14, July 19, 2008 - The Palms, Las Vegas, Nevada - Spike TV

Main Card:

Anderson Silva Vs. James Irvin - a bet on silva here is a waste of a gamble, in my opinion. irvin should be such an underdog that a small bet on him could provide a good return. having said that, silva's muay thai is so much more fluid, accurate and diverse than irvin's. irvin has knockout power in all his weapons, but you don't see him using the kind of combinations silva does. james uses one shot or simple combos, but powerful shots. silva SHOULD see most of what james irvin has to offer coming. irvin, on the other hand could easily get overwhelmed. silva is so confusing with the different types of strikes he throws and the stances and footwork he uses.

irvin has only been knocked out once. silva has never been ko'd or tko'd. irvin has the ability to do it if he gets that one shot in, so who knows? maybe a flying knee to start the match like he did in the second round against terry martin. i'd go so far as to say that irvin is arguably the best striker anderson has faced. not nearly the most well rounded, of course. then, there's also the question of how silva will look at 205 (i'd say just as good ).

just because it would be insanity...

irvin by ko in the middle of the first round.



Brandon Vera Vs. Reese Andy - vera is the other guy moving to 205 here. word is that he looks absolutely phenomenal with his speed and agility. reese is a highly touted fighter from the ifl, but he has a habit of going to decision. he likes the ground and pound. this one doesn't seem to have the decision feeling to it. reese is a strong wrestler, but is the shorter fighter, so i can see brandon really enjoying his reach here and taking advantage of it. he's the much better striker in every way in this match. if he can get into the clinch against the shorter opponent and avoid getting taken down while there, those knees are going to be too much for reese. brandon hasn't had too much luck in the clinch in his last two matches, but those were against sylvia and werdum, both much taller and heavier fighters. still, if reese gets the takedown from the clinch as he said he plans to do, brandon is a decent grappler himself and can get back to his feet well.

vera by tko in the first.



Frankie Edgar Vs. Hermes Franca - there was a match maybe a year and a half ago that hermes took on short notice against jamie varner, another strong wrestler with stand up not on the level of edgar's at the time. varner won the first two rounds with takedowns, but ran out of gas in the third and after taking hermes down one last time, he got caught in an armbar and lost the match. (hermes was also out of gas...)

the reason i mention it is because i think this match will look a lot like that one, only more active. also, i don't see edgar getting warned for running away like varner did after hermes hit him.

i'm really hoping this will be an exciting match, but i think it will be a matter of edgar taking hermes down repeatedly for a round or two, staying pretty active and hermes maybe attempting a few submission from his back. hermes has been out a year, so we'll have to see how his conditioning is in the third, but i've seen franca enough times to know that his heart comes out when his back is against the wall. hermes either being able to avoid the takedown in the third or finally timing a nice knee as edgar shoots should provide and exciting finish to the match. if he can't and it goes to the judges, it will be edgar who comes out on top.

franca by tko in the third round.



Cain Velasquez Vs. Jake O'Brien - velasquez has everything going for him on paper with the exception of experience. he looked a little green at his debut in montreal, but still very overwhelming. he's going up against a better opponent in o'brien this time, but jake is one dimensional. fortunately for cain, he excels in that dimension, wrestling. his stand up is much better too. this fight will take place wherever cain wants it too and he should be able to pound out a tko.

velasquez by tko in the second round, maybe even the first is jake can't weather the storm.



Kevin Burns Vs. Anthony Johnson - burns is coming off the huge upset win over roan carneiro, and by submission, no less. johnson is coming off the big knockout of tommy speer. johnson is a freak of nature at WW. great sprawl, huge reach, with accuracy, speed and power. too much for kevin burns to deal with.

johnson by ko in the first round.



CB Dolloway Vs. Jesse Taylor - we saw these guys on the show, so we know jesse's gameplan and we know what he likes to do. he'll be looking to ground and pound and avoid the submissions. dolloway seems like a very good athlete, so i wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of improvement in his game. i just can't see jesse putting cb in a place in this fight where he would be in a lot of danger. on the other hand, i can see it happening to jesse.

dolloway by submission or tko in the second.


Pre-lims:

Tim Credeur Vs. Cale Yarbrough - again, we all saw both these guys on the show. i wonder how much inprovements they have each made, because from what i recall of cale, he likes to leave arms hanging behind on the ground. if i were making the gameplan for tim for this fight, it would be to open with a flying guard, take a couple of punches on the ground and then grab that arm.

credeur by submission, armbar or triangle, in the first.



Rory Markham Vs. Brodie Farber - markham is another highly regarded fighter from the ifl and he has a couple of quality wins over quality opponents. he looks for the ko, and he's never gone to a decison...so if you can bet on that, do so..:) markham has faced the better competition and having experience in the ifl, he should have another tko win here.

markham by tko late in the first.



Nate Loughran Vs. Johnny Rees - i don't know much about either of these fighters, other than they are both undefeated and both have almost all of their wins by submission. maybe they cancel each other out and it turns out to be a standing affair. i'll wait to make a prediction on fantasy leaugue for this one...but it's a coin flip, it seems. both making their debut...

50/50



James Giboo Vs. Brad Blackburn - blackburn has more experience, another fighter from the ifl. he's definitely faced the better competition, but he's only defeated a few of them. most of giboo's wins are by submission, but it's deceiving because about half of those submission wins were due to strikes. it this wasn't a debut for both of them i would say blackburn by decision, but instead i'll go with him getting the tko.

blackburn by tko late in the second round.



Shannon Gugerty Vs. Dale Hartt - really don't know anything about gugerty, but have heard really good things about hartt. a 5-0 LW with no decisions. just from looking at gurgerty's record, it would seem that he likes the submissions. hartt may be able to keep this standing and get the ko or tko.

hartt by tko in the second round.

it's crazy! i just saw the pictures of rampage face down on the pavement, surrounded by officers with guns drawn. he was driving his truck with the toyo tires logo on it, camo paint...AND a huge picture of himself on the door!

what's going on with rampage?!?!

yeah, i was shocked! apparently it just started with a crash, i'm not sure how serious or minor. i wonder why rampage would leave the scene, and then try to get away from the police?

i guess we'll have to wait for more details...

LOVEBOATCAPT0226 wrote:

Rampage gets a bad Decision loss , and now look what happens.
I love watching Rampage , hopefully he doesn't get made an example of.

it's all very perplexing. no drugs or alcohol involved. all reports are calling the initial incident a minor vehicle collision, and rampage gave no problems to police from the time he was arrrested until he was released.

as ceg said in another thread, why try to run from the police? maybe we'll hear more if the hearing is tomorrow.

it doesn't sound like quinton's hearing will be today. i hope there's not something seriously wrong with him and that he makes it through this ok.


QUINTON JACKSON TAKEN IN FOR OBSERVATION
Thursday, July 17, 2008
by Ken Pishna - MMAWeekly.com


Just one day removed from being arrested by the Costa Mesa Police Department and charged with alleged felony evasion, hit-and-run, and reckless driving, former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson found himself in the custody of another California jurisdiction.

Although Jackson was not arrested again, the Irvine Police Department did escort him to mental health professionals for observation due to reports of him being a possible threat to himself and others.

“We did go out to the residence where he was staying at 4:31 p.m. PT (on Wednesday in the city of Irvine, Calif.). We were asked to assist with him and make sure that he was safe and not a danger to himself or others,” said Lt. Rick Handfield of the Irvine Police Department. “He was exhibiting some unusual behavior that his friends that were there felt concerned.” Details of Jackson’s exact behavior were not forthcoming.

“At the conclusion of our contact, we did detain him and take him to be seen by mental health professionals,” continued Lt. Handfield. He was not released back to Irvine police. “We left him with the mental health professionals.”

At this point, due to privacy laws, there is not further information on the findings of the mental health professionals or what Jackson’s current condition is.

On Tuesday, Jackson was arrested by the Costa Mesa Police Department following a high-speed chase down Newport Boulevard that allegedly involved multiple collisions between the custom painted pick-up truck that Jackson was identified as driving and other vehicles. He was also reported to have crossed over the median into oncoming traffic and running red lights, causing pedestrians to flee out of the way before Jackson was taken into custody.

Jackson’s pick-up is detailed by a custom camouflage paint job with his likeness and sponsor logos emblazoned across the side.

He was released from Costa Mesa authorities on $25,000 bail overnight Tuesday night, leading up to Wednesday’s incident in Irvine.

Jackson defeated Chuck Liddell for the UFC light heavyweight title in May of 2007. He held that title for more than a year, until losing two weeks ago at UFC 86 in Las Vegas by unanimous decision to current champion Forrest Griffin.

No statement has been forthcoming from officials at the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=6715&zoneid=2

the countdown show was on for fight night last night, not sure if anyone caught it. it was quite good for the first half. a lot like the new more "documentary" style they've been using lately, but the second half had more of an advertisement feeling to it like the countdown shows used to be presented.

still, it was good to get a closer look at both silva (again ) and irvin. always nice to see a new profile.

i don't know why this didn't really occur to me before, but i started thinking how crazy will it be if both irvin and sylvia pull off the upsets in one night?!?! :eek: