Category: MMA

Yesterday I predicted that Frank Mir would say that he was sorry for his comments that he wanted to break Lesnar’s neck or for him to be killed in the octagon. Later that afternoon Mir released the following statement:

“I would like to apologize to Brock Lesnar, his family, the UFC and the UFC fans for my stupid remarks,” said Mir. “I respect Brock, all the other fighters, and the sport of mixed martial arts.  I’m sorry that I stepped out of line.”

Ok.  Nice apology.  All is forgiven… at least until Mir and Lesnar meet in the cage for a third time.  Then you know it will become a point of contention and another way to hype the fight.

Frank Mir is one of my favorite mixed martial arts fighters.  I like him because he’s talented, has a great work ethic, is intelligent, speaks his mind and came back from a devastating motorcycle injury that would have retired lesser men.  So it disappoints me to report that Mir said in an interview…

I want to fight Lesnar. I hate who he is as a person. I want to break his neck in the ring. I want him to be the first person that dies due to Octagon-related injuries.

Of course the comments Mir made were extreme.  I get that Mir doesn’t like Lesnar.  Without a doubt Lesnar’s antics after winning the second fight with Mir [getting in his face, yelling at him, etc.] fueled Mir’s dislike.  But did Lesnar’s childish taunts warrant Frank wanting to break his neck or hope that Lesnar becomes the first to die in the octagon?  Of course not.

As you can imagine, Mir’s comments didn’t go over well with most fans and definitely ticked off UFC president Dana White who responded to Mir’s comments with:

“Mir is a [expletive] idiot! I have never heard something so unprofessional and idiotic in my life.

While it’s true that Dana White has made his share of unprofessional comments, it doesn’t change the fact that Mir joined the club with his rant.  But Frank Mir is no idiot.  In fact, he comes off as a pretty intelligent guy.  He’s no thug.

It’s been announced that Mir will issue a statement later today.  My guess is that Mir will say that he’s sorry for the comments that he made and that he really doesn’t want to break Lesnar’s neck or for him to be killed in the octagon.  I have no doubt that is the truth.

I also have no doubt that Mir really wants to fight Lesnar for a third time.  And that’s just another reason that Frank Mir is one of my favorite fighters.

Last night during Mark Coleman’s live post fight interview following his loss to Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz approached the cage and yelled, “Payback’s a ***** mother*****!”  Reportedly, Ortiz’s girlfriend, former porn star Jenna Jameson, who was with Ortiz, also shot the middle finger to Coleman.  Of course, Coleman responded by calling Ortiz names and saying he’d fight him anytime.

So, is it bad blood or bad hype?

Ortiz and Coleman were scheduled to fight at UFC 106, before Coleman had to pull out due to injury.  Ortiz is now scheduled to fight Chuck Liddell at the conclusion of the next season of The Ultimate Fighter.  So, is Ortiz simply prepping a fight to follow or does he really dislike Coleman?   When Coleman had to pull out of their fight, Ortiz did badmouth him.  That prompted Coleman’s manager to respond with some pretty nasty things about Ortiz’s girl.

So, is it bad blood or bad hype?

I’m not really sure, but played right, it could make for an interesting fight.

UFC 108 features only one fight that interests me.  It’s the main event match-up between Rashad “Suga” Evans and Thiago Silva.  Both men are fighting to stay in contention for the title head by Lyoto Machida.  Interestingly enough, Evans and Silva have each only lost one time.  Yep, you guessed it, to the champ Machida.

Let’s cut to the chase.  I’m going to pick Evans by decision… but I wouldn’t want to bet much on it!

UFC 107 is Saturday and it features a worthy card:

• Kenny Florian vs Clay “The Carpenter” Guida. My rule of thumb is that a fighter with a nickname will usually beat one without.  That goes by the wayside in this fight.  While Guida is a  tough, active fighter, I think that Florian‘s skills will be too much for him to overcome.  My prediction: Florian [unless “The Carpenter” brings a hammer into the cage.]
• Jon Fitch vs Mike Pierce. Mike who?  My prediction: Fitch.
  
• Frank Mir vs Cheick Kongo. I’m a big Mir fan.  Kongo has never impressed me.  My prediction: Mir. [Surprised?]
• BJ “The Prodigy” Penn vs Diego “The Nightmare” Sanchez. Wow.  This should be a great fight.  BJ isn’t one of my favorite fighters, but he is one of the best.  I am a HUGE fan of Diego Sanchez.  Everyone says that BJ should win… and he probably should.  My prediction: Out on a limb and going with the underdog Sanchez.

For another perspective on the fights, check out Ryan Cody’s predictions!

UCF presented The Ultimate Fighter finale last night on SPIKE. Let’s look at the results and my predictions…

Darrill “The Boss” Schoonover vs James “The Hammer” McSweeney. My prediction: Schoonover. The Result: McSweeny via 3rd round stoppage making me 0-1 for the night.

Marcus “Big Baby” Jones vs Matt Mitrione. My prediction: Mitrione.  The result: Mitirone by brutal 2nd round KO taking me to 1-1.

Frank “The Answer” Edgar vs Matt Veach. My prediction: Edgar. The result: Edgar via 2nd round choke submission moving me to 2-1 for the night.

Kimbo Slice vs Huston “The Assassin” Alexander. My prediction: Alexander. The result: Kimbo wins by decision in a very surprising fight taking me to 2-2. // Huston had a game plan to turn what everyone thought would be a slugfest in to a strategic battle.  Huston circled and kicked at Kimbo, who kept his composure and picked his shots.  Kimbo brutally slammed Huston to the mat on more than one occasion [after a boring first round].  Kimbo also worked for submisions!  Kimbo deserved the win and proved that he is taking MMA seriously.

Matt “The Hammer” Hamill vs Jon “Bones” Jones. My prediction: Hamill. The result: Hamill won via DQ after Jones hit him with illegal blows [straight elbows to the face while Hamill was on the mat] which moved me to 3-2 for the night. // Jon “The Bones” Jones is no joke. This kid dominated Hamill from the opening bell.  Hamill was hurt repeatedly and the fight could have been stopped earlier.  I’ll take the win and so will Hamill, but the truth is Jones should have won and pretty easily.

Roy “Big Country” Nelson vs Brendan “The Hybrid” Schaub. My prediction: Schaub  The result: Nelson via first round KO making me 3-3 for the night.

Overall a break even night of predictions for a fun night of fights.

UCF presents The Ultimate Fighter finale tonight on SPIKE.  Let’s look at the fights and my predictions…

Darrill “The Boss” Schoonover vs James “The Hammer” McSweeney. I hope Schoonover wins.  He was calm and modest while on the show. McSweeney was the opposite.  McSweeney is a tough guy and had he not been showboating and got caught, he might have made the finals.  My prediction: Schoonover.

Marcus “Big Baby” Jones vs Matt Mitrione. This is a tough one to call.  Jones takes his opponents to the ground and muscles them.  Mitrione packs a hammer punch [and can take a shot to the head as well].  Will Mitrione be able to land one on “Big Baby” and make it lights out, or will “Big Baby” take Mitrione to the mat and have him ready to tap before lands?  Both are kind of flakey when it comes to fighting.  Hmmmm…. I know, go with the guy with a nickname… or not…  My prediction: Mitrione.

Frank “The Answer” Edgar vs Matt Veach. Both have great records, so this time we go with the guy that has the nick.  My prediction: Edgar.

Kimbo Slice vs Huston “The Assassin” Alexander. People will tune in to watch Kimbo.  Ya gotta love Kimbo.  I’d hate to see Kimbo lose another fight.  Kimbo is actually good for the sport [and I didn’t believe that a year ago].  My prediction: Alexander [and not just because he has a nickname and Kimbo doesn’t].

Matt “The Hammer” Hamill vs Jon “Bones” Jones. Although “Bones” is undefeated, I think that is about to change.  My prediction: Hamill.

Roy “Big Country” Nelson vs Brendan “The Hybrid” Schaub. After seeing Schaub get out from Big Baby’s full mount, I believe he will be able to do the same from Big Country’s big belly.  As my nephew, Bartledoo Joey said after watching Big Country lose in a pay-per-view: “Big Country was yelling, ‘Beer me” before the ref stopped the bout!”  My prediction: Schaub will have Big Country calling for beers.

Let’s hope my predictions will be better tonight than in the last UFC event.

Let’s take a look at the results from last night’s UFC 106 card:

• Kendall “da Spider” Grove [12-6] vs Jake Rosholt [6-1].  Rosholt was dominating Grove throughout the first round when suddenly Grove transitioned from bottom to an armbar attempt and then again quickly to a leg triangle.  It was over with Grove getting the win.  My pick – Rosholt making me 0-1.
  

• Ben Saunders [7-1-2] vs Marcus “The Irish Hand Grenade” Davis [21-6].  Saunders dominated the fight earning a KO win in the first round from brutal knees thrown from the head clinch.  My pick – Davis making me 0-2 for the night.

• Amir Sadollah [2-1] vs Phill “The New York Bad Ass” Baroni [13-11].  Sadollah earned a unanimous decision win.  Okay, my pick – Sadollah giving me my first win of the night and making me 1-2.

• Antonio Rogerio “Minotaro” Nogueira [17-3] vs Luis “Bana” Cane [11-1-1].  Nogueira came out and bullied Cane, scoring a first round KO!  My pick – Cane in an upset and boy, am I upset with myself for THAT pick since it made me 1-3.
  

• Paulo Thiago [11-1] vs Jacob “Christmas” Volkmann [9-0].  Thiago earned a unanimous decision. My pick – Volkmann in an upset win making me even more upset that my record for the night dropped to 1-4.

• Josh “Kos” Koscheck [15-4] vs Anthony “Rumble” Johnson [8-2].  Koscheck defeats Johnson in the second round via rear naked choke.  My pick – Koscheck takes me to 2-4.

• Tito “The Hunington Beach Bad Boy” Ortiz [16-6-1] vs Forrest Griffin [16-6].  Griffin scores a split decision win setting up a tie-breaker match somewhere down the line [Ortiz scored a split decision win in their first fight].  My pick – Griffin takes me to 3-4 for the night.

It was a good night for fights, but a bad night for my picks.  Lucky for me I wasn’t betting.

Here are the results from my predictions for last night’s UFC card:

• Ross “The Real Deal” Pearson defeated Aaron Riley in round 2 via TKO.  I’m went with “The Real Deal” which made me 1-0 and 100% after the first fight.

• James “Lightning” Wilks lost to Matt “The Immortal” Brown via TKO in round 3.  I thought “Lightning” would strike, but I didn’t realize it was going to be the lightning fast hands of “The Immortal”.  Suddenly I’m at 1-1 for 50% after two fights.

• Michael “The Count” Bisping won against Denis Kang via TKO in round 2.  I predicted it would be “The Count” getting the victory and that makes me 2-1 for 66% after 3 fights.

• Mike “Quick” Swick lost by unanimous decision to Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy.  I’m picked Swick so you could say that “The Outlaw” stole my winning percentage and knocked it down to 2-2 for 50% after 4 fights.

• Randy “The Natural” Couture beat Brandon “The Truth” Vera by unanimous decision.  “The Natural” was my pick to win and he also makes me a winner at 3-2 for 60% after 5 fights.

The fights were fun… and the company made it even more of a blast.  Hats off to Bartledoo Joey who went 5-0 with his picks.